Smith joined the Cheetahs on a loan deal earlier in the season and their agreement was that he would be in Bloemfontein until the end of the year.

The Sharks have requested for the player to return to Durban in order to partake in their Super Rugby pre-season.

Smith told OFM Sport that if he is unable to make the game squad at the Sharks, he will readdress the situation.

“The Sharks have requested that I return to start there in January, so on the 7th I will be reporting and resuming the Super Rugby pre-season with the team.

“Should it happen that I am not used or not playing there, we will revisit a loan or a re-loan, I suppose, and then we will take it from there.

“As it stands I will be returning to Durban in January, hit the preseason hard and see if I can make the cut for the game-day squads.

“Should I not, we will revisit and then make plans for the future from there on.”

In the event of Smith not being able to re-join the Cheetahs, Franco Smith, does have the luxury of calling on Tapiwe Mafura, who joined the team in November from the Leopards. Smith earlier indicated that ideally, they will like to get Mafura conditioned according to their standards.

The Cheetahs' next game in the Pro14 is on 6 January when they face Zebre in Parma.

@MorganPiek OFM Sport