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Rassie Erasmus fires back at Racing 92 owner over Siya Kolisi remarks
By Josh Raisey
It seemed unlikely that Racing 92 owner Jacky Lorenzetti was ever going to be able to publicly criticise Siya Kolisi without facing some form of backlash.
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Following Racing’s quarter-final exit in the Top 14 against Bordeaux-Begles recetly, Lorenzetti took aim at the South Africa captain in an interview with French publication Midi Olympique, describing the double World Cup winner as “transparent” and accusing him of being overweight.
“He had a remarkable start to the season, where he was a unifier off the field,” he said in the interview.
“The break was harmful to him. He gained weight, lost form and yesterday he was transparent.
“In the back row, we used to have an ultra-present warrior, a warrior called Wenceslas Lauret. For the moment, Siya does not let us forget him.
“But we think that next year, that will change.”
This opprobrium clearly did not go down well with Springboks head coach Rassie Erasmus.
A day after naming his Springboks squad for the two-Test series with Ireland, Erasmus put to bed months of speculation by confirming that the flanker will continue to lead the side. He also took the opportunity to have a wry pop at Lorenzetti.
“Siya will be captain and Siya will play No6 and Siya’s fit and Siya’s got no injury and Siya’s not fat and Siya’s not transparent,” Erasmus said while breaking into a laugh.
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Kolisi had a mixed first season with Racing, which started brilliantly but was curtailed by a hand injury. He did make a return to action for the final two months of the season, but it was a disappointing denouement for the club as a whole, as their season unravelled.
The flanker was not considered for South Africa’s recent 41-13 win over Wales as it fell outside the Test window, but he returned to Erasmus’ 39-player squad that will prepare to take on the reigning Six Nations champions Ireland in July.