Faf de Klerk de-registered by Yokohama and replaced by All Black

South Africa’s injured double World Cup winner Faf de Klerk has been de-registered by his Japanese club Yokohama Canon Eagles, RugbyJP can exclusively reveal.

The 34-year-old suffered a serious ankle injury in the opening round when he attempted to tackle Shizuoka Blue Revs wing Valynce Te Whare on 14 December and returned to his homeland for medical treatment

Yokohama previously announced that their injury-hit scrum-half, who has been linked with a return to the English Prem at the end of the season, has 'temporarily withdrawn' from the competition for the third season in a row.

New head coach Lean MacDonald’s side are rooted to the foot of the table after four successive defeats and host undefeated Saitama Wild Knights in Saturday’s early kick-off.

The ex-Sale Sharks star, who signed off last month with a video message where he shared his plans to return in time for the final rounds of the campaign in May, has now been de-registered by his struggling club.

Club captain Jesse Kriel, the first non-Japanese player in the role in the Kanagawa outfit’s history, and Italian lock Dino Lamb started the season alongside de Klerk as their three marquee Category C players (capped by a county other than Japan) who can all be named together in a matchday squad.  

Faf de Klerk in action v Shizuoka - © Yokohama

Under-pressure MacDonald has now de-registered his South African veteran to free up a Category C spot and has moved swiftly to bring in ex-All Blacks hooker Liam Coltman, 35, from the Highlanders.

Coltman has trained this week and is available for selection against high-flying Saitama. The eight-cap All Black, who was playing for Utah Warriors in Major League Rugby last season, will compete primarily with former Japan internationals Yusuke Niwai and Shunta Nakamura for the number two jersey.

Kazufumi Yamasuga replaced de Klerk 32 minutes into the new season, but rookie scrum-half Asahi Doei has been favoured since then and has started the three subsequent games.

Mpumalanga native de Klerk can be re-registered later in the season which would require one of their three current Category C players to be sacrificed with Coltman expected to make way for the 2019 and 2023 World Cup winner to return for a potential Yokohama swansong.

The 2024 play-off semi-finalists travel to Damien de Allende’s Saitama for the return fixture on 4 April, before hosting Jasper Wiese’s Urayasu D-Rocks and travelling to play Richie Mo’unga’s champions Toshiba.

Yokohama will then host arch-rivals Mitsubishi Dynaboars in the Kanagawa derby before completing their regular season away against Kwagga Smith’s Shizuoka.