{"id":808514,"date":"2026-10-20T10:40:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T10:40:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/808514\/"},"modified":"2026-10-20T10:40:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T10:40:13","slug":"springboks-stars-contract-terminated-at-japanese-club-amid-reports-of-south-african-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/808514\/","title":{"rendered":"Springboks star’s contract ‘terminated’ at Japanese club amid reports of South African return"},"content":{"rendered":"

Double Rugby World Cup-winning Springboks<\/a> flanker Kwagga Smith has parted ways with Japanese club the Shizuoka Blue Revs.<\/p>\n

The club confirmed the news on Tuesday morning amid speculation that the back-rower could return to South Africa.<\/p>\n

Kwagga Smith\u2019s South African return<\/p>\n

Smith<\/a> has enjoyed a successful eight years at the Japan Rugby League One club, which he has captained in recent seasons.<\/p>\n

During his time at the club, he has been named in the team of the season on five occasions \u2013 twice during the Top League era and thrice since the tournament rebranded to the Japan<\/a> Rugby League.<\/p>\n

In 2023, he was also crowned the Player of the Season in the league, an award voted for by the players.<\/p>\n

The Shizuoka Blue Revs confirmed that his contract has been terminated by \u2018mutual agreement\u2019 and paid tribute to Smith ahead of his rumoured return to South Africa.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince joining Yamaha Jubilo in 2018, he has been a key player for the team for eight seasons,\u201d the statement read.<\/p>\n

Adding: \u201cIn addition, with his experience and achievements as a South African<\/a> national team player with 63 caps, he has always been a leader and role model for the team. Kwagga Smith is an important figure who has built the club\u2019s history and is a true representative of the league. We express our utmost respect and gratitude for his achievements to date and sincerely wish him continued success in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

The loose forward played 81 matches for the Blue Revs during his time at the club.<\/p>\n

Smith is currently nursing a knee injury<\/a>, which has seen him miss the entirety of the Springboks international season to date. Rassie Erasmus has previously stated that he is unlikely to recover in time to play in the November Nations Championship matches.<\/p>\n

Stormers snag another promising talent from local rivals to ease positional crisis: \u2018He has real long-term potential\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

Top 10 hybrids in rugby: The man nicknamed after a horror film sets the template while Springboks\u2019 \u2018blunt instrument\u2019 changes the game<\/a><\/p>\n

Malcolm Marx and Bongi Mbonambi\u2019s future<\/p>\n

The 33-year-old has been linked with a move to the Bulls, where he would link up with Johan Ackermann again, who was his coach at the Lions before he headed to Japan.<\/p>\n

Ackermann has confirmed interest in bringing Smith and his fellow Springbok teammate Malcolm Marx back to South Africa, who also played under the head coach at the Lions.<\/p>\n

Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for world-class coverage you can trust.<\/p>\n

Rapport states that the Pretoria-based club will have competition for Marx\u2019s signature<\/a> from the Sharks, who could turn to South Africa\u2019s top try-scoring forward if Bongi Mbonambi leaves the team.<\/p>\n

Marx is currently contracted with the Kubota Spears in Japan through to the end of the 2026\/27 season, and the report at the time stated that the Sharks hadn\u2019t made an official offer yet.<\/p>\n

Mbonambi, despite being fit, has not played for the Durban club this season due to a disciplinary issue that occurred on a team bonding trip. The Sharks and Mbonambi are awaiting the outcome of a disciplinary hearing into his conduct, which could result in the termination of his contract.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:\u00a0Opinion: Bongi Mbonambi\u2019s disciplinary process\u00a0proves the Sharks are turning a corner under JP Pietersen<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Double Rugby World Cup-winning Springboks flanker Kwagga Smith has parted ways with Japanese club the Shizuoka Blue Revs.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":808515,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[88635,348,3482,386,159032,50,5903,5341,4247,101,568,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-808514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-bulls","tag-home-page","tag-internationals","tag-japan","tag-kwagga-smith","tag-news","tag-rugby","tag-sharks","tag-south-africa","tag-sports","tag-transfers","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=808514"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808514\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/808515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=808514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=808514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=808514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}