Bok prop Koch relishing new life in Paris after Wasps drama

Like many players at the English club, Koch was left without a home when the Coventry club was placed into administration back after failing to pay back its debts. All of the club's playing and coaching staff was made redundant in October of last year.

Luckily for Koch, he was able to rebound in fine form by securing a contract with Stade Francais, a deal that saw his entire family make the move to Paris.

Koch ran out for the Boks against Italy in Genoa on 19 November and was on a plane the next day back to South Africa to finalise his move to France.

The 32-year-old barely had time to check his luggage before flying over and making his Top 14 debut three days later.

It was a real baptism of fire for Koch, who had just a couple of training sessions before being thrust into the team - to say nothing of the immediate language barrier.

"I could just say 'hello' pretty much," Koch told AFP.

"Everything came so quick" after Wasps were put into administration in mid-October.

"When you start playing professional rugby, you never think that's something that could ever happen to you."

Koch had only just joined Wasps when it was placed into administration, having spent six successful seasons at Saracens.

He was laid off without having played a single game for his new club.

"It put a lot of pressure on myself, on my family," Koch said. "I had two weeks to try to sort things out before I joined up with the Springboks.

"In that two weeks I had to look for a new contract, try to figure out what the future held for me and then as well move everything from my house because I couldn't stay there.

"I had to get someone to move my house, stop all my debit orders, TV, the wifi... Trying to get out of my housing lease as well."

However, there was definitely a silver lining to this particular dark cloud, and for Koch and his family, moving to Paris has been an incredible adventure.

"It's definitely better than Coventry so we'll definitely make good memories here," Koch said.

"Some day in life, you get to sit down and reflect on what happened. We can actually tick a box and say, listen, we had an unbelievable time in Paris, in one of the most beautiful countries in the world.

"I always make a joke saying there's worst places to be in the world than Paris."