SARugbymag.co.za readers had their say and are urging South Africa’s stars to all stay and play their franchise rugby for local teams.
In a poll taken after news of Springbok skipper Siya Kolisi’s switch to French Top 14 club Racing 92 from the Sharks after the 2023 Rugby World Cup, 22% of 1,693 votes cast want the country’s best of the best to continue their domestic careers in the Republic.
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The success and the inclusion of South African teams in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship and European Champions and Challenge cups has potentially mitigated the mass exodus of the country’s leading players which appears to be inevitable following the Boks’ bid to defend their world title in France.
However, 22% of readers felt that Evan Roos, whose meteoric rise at the DHL Stormers last year has significantly elevated his marketability, is the most likely to consider a career-changing offer proposed to him.
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Only 16% believe that Eben Etzebeth, who headlined an influx of top talent to the Sharks when he arrived from Toulon in 2022, will look to pad his retirement fund with a shock departure.
A combined 26% of voters expect Kurt-Lee Arendse, Damian Willemse and Canan Moodie to leverage their breakout 2021-22 campaigns for an attractive deal elsewhere, while 14% predict that Cheslin Kolbe will leave French giants Toulon and accept a reported lucrative deal in Japan before the start of the World Cup.
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