{"id":50081,"date":"2026-02-16T10:36:47","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T10:36:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/?p=50081"},"modified":"2026-02-16T10:36:47","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T10:36:47","slug":"springboks-speedster-grant-williams-says-sayonara-to-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/2026\/02\/16\/springboks-speedster-grant-williams-says-sayonara-to-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Springboks speedster says sayonara to South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>The Springboks continue to make big moves both in and outside of South Africa.<\/p>\n<p>Springboks rugby is at an all-time high, so it comes as no surprise that there is tremendous interest in its players from clubs all over the world.<\/p>\n<p>The latest Springbok player to leave Mzansi and play overseas has just been confirmed.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-springboks-speedster-says-sayonara-to-sharks-and-sa\"><strong>SPRINGBOKS SPEEDSTER SAYS SAYONARA TO SHARKS AND SA<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Springboks speedster <strong>Grant Williams<\/strong> will <strong>not <\/strong>be renewing his contract with the Sharks.<\/p>\n<p>He will be leaving the Durban franchise \u2013 and South Africa \u2013 to play his rugby in Japan next season.<\/p>\n<p>According to\u00a0<em>Rapport<\/em>,\u00a0Williams will leave the Sharks at the end of the season and will continue his career in Japan Rugby League One.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, the Springbok scrumhalf is reportedly in Japan right now as he wishes to familiarise himself with his new environment set to become his home next season.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-grant-williams-to-join-strong-springbok-contingent-in-japan\"><strong>GRANT WILLIAMS TO JOIN STRONG SPRINGBOK CONTINGENT IN JAPAN<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>He joins the likes of Kurt-Lee Arendse, Cheslin Kolbe, Jesse Kriel, Damien de Allende, Manie Libbok, Faf de Klerk, Pieter-Steph du Toit and Malcolm Marx in Japan.<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, his departure follows that of Lukhanyo Am, who left the Sharks in November to join the Sagamihara Dynaboars.<\/p>\n<p>The identity of the club he will be joining has not been disclosed as at the time of publication.<\/p>\n<p>Interestingly, the Japanese league currently boasts both the current and a former World Rugby Players of the Year. <\/p>\n<p>Malcolm Marx (Kubota Spears) was crowned World Rugby Player of the year in 2025, while Pieter-Steph du Toit (Toyota Verblitz) earned the honour in 2024 and 2019.<\/p>\n<p>Stay tuned to <em>The South African<\/em> as we reveal which team Williams has signed for.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-grant-williams-factfile\"><strong>Grant Williams factfile<\/strong><\/h3>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\">\n<table class=\"has-fixed-layout\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>Full names: Grant Williams<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Date of birth: 22 July 1996<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Place of birth:\u00a0Paarl<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>School:\u00a0Paarl Gimnasium<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Springbok #929<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Physical: 1.74m, 8kg<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Current age: 29<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/figure>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\">\n<table class=\"has-fixed-layout\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Test summary:\u00a0<\/strong>Tests: 28\u00a0Tries: 7<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>First Test:\u00a09 July 2022 \u2013 Reserve against Wales at Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Last Test:\u00a022 November 2025 \u2013 Reserve against Ireland at Aviva Stadium, Dublin<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p><script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n#Springboks #speedster #sayonara #South #Africa<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Springboks continue to make big moves both in and outside of South Africa. Springboks rugby is at an all-time&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":50082,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mzansi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50081"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50081\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50083,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50081\/revisions\/50083"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}