Siya Kolisi hopeful 'misunderstood' Owen Farrell will join Racing 92

Two-time Rugby World Cup-winning captain Siya Kolisi is hopeful that Owen Farrell will join Racing 92 amidst rumours the “misunderstood” playmaker is poised to sign with the French juggernauts.

French newspaper Midi Olympique reported earlier this month that Farrell, who has played all of his professional club rugby with Saracens, was close to penning a deal.

Farrell, 32, has already ruled himself out of the Six Nations for personal reasons, but a move across the English Channell would make the flyhalf ineligible for national duty.

But, in what will surely pique the interest of rugby fans the world over, Farrell the apparent two-year deal in Paris that would see him join the likes of Siya Kolisi and England wing Henry Arundell at the Top 14 club.

Farrell and Kolisi captained their respective teams and nations in the 2019 Rugby World Cup final in Japan, and the pair went head-to-head once again in the semi-finals of last year’s event in France.

But Kolisi has nothing but praise and admiration for Farrell, who the Springboks’ leader described as a “f***ing competitive” athlete.

“I hope he f***ing comes. I hope he does,” Kolisi told Jim Hamilton on The Big Jim Show.

“I love Owen, I really like him. I speak to him every now and then.

“I don’t understand why people don’t like him, I just think he’s f***ing competitive which is what you want.

“It’d be good for us, it’d be great for us if he could come.

“He’s really a good leader, I think he’s very competitive and he’s just misunderstood.”

Saracens teammate Jamie George recently said that the reported move came as a “shock” to the playing group. Still, the England hooker was more than supportive of Farrell potentially making the move.

The nation’s top point scorer has played 112 Tests in the famed white jersey, which includes the aforementioned appearance in the 2019 World Cup final.

Farell has also won England’s Premiership on six occasions and is also a three-time Champions Cup winner. There’s no question the flyhalf has served Saracens admirably which would make him a sensational pickup for Top 14 leaders Racing.

“Racing 92 are on the verge of hitting hard in the transfer market. According to our sources, England fly-half Owen Farrell would indeed be very close to committing for the next two years with the Hauts-de-Seine entity, the current leader of the Top 14.

“With a profile like Farrell’s, the club of Jacky Lorenzetti and Laurent Travers proves, only a few months after signing the captain of the South African Siya Kolisi, that it remains attractive to say the least in the eyes of the big names of the international circuit.

“In support of Antoine Gibert, Tristan Tedder and Martin Meliande, and alongside Nolann Le Garrec at the back, Farrell will bring a little more depth to a team whose last major title dates back to the spring of 2016.

“By grafting the talent of Owen Farrell to his squad, manager Stuart Lancaster is now taking advantage of the events, assumed or suffered, that have made the news of the Ile-de-France club over the past two seasons.

“In the Hauts-de-Seine, the departure to Bath of Finn Russell, one of the highest-paid players in the last Top 14, has already made a considerable place in the club’s wage bill, as has the unwanted one of Virimi Vakatawa in England.

“And that’s not all: in the 92nd, the probable career end of the French international Bernard Le Roux, victim of a series of concussions, combined with the possible departure of the Argentine international Juan Imhoff as well as the recruitment of several players in the process of development have also allowed the Ile-de-France leaders to limit a salary cap set at €10.7million per Top 14 club.

“On the subject of the salary cap and these honourable constraints, it should be noted, finally, that Siya Kolisi’s remuneration would not exceed €400,000 per year.

“At a time when competition from the Japanese League One is becoming more insistent, Farrell’s imminent arrival in the Top 14 proves that it is still very far from having given up its title of ‘best league in the world’.”