Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

Damian Willemse signs deal with Saracens

Damian Willemse's similarities to Alex Goode will be welcomed by Saracens (Photo by Shaun Roy/Gallo Images/Getty Images)

Stormers pivot and Springbok Damian Willemse has penned a deal to join the Saracens as injury cover for Alex Goode and Max Malins.

ADVERTISEMENT

Willemse, who earned five caps for South Africa throughout 2018, was hopeful of making his national side and competing at the World Cup but missed out on selection to the likes of Handre Pollard, Elton Jantjies and Frans Steyn.

His ommission from the World Cup squad has allowed him to link up with the English Premiership champions for the early stages of their campaign.

The Currie Cup will come to an end this weekend and with no other first-class rugby on the horizon for the remainder of the year, Willemse’s move will give the 21-year-old the opportunity to hone his skills in the Northern Hemisphere and will also provide the Saracens with a prodigious talent.

The Cape Town-born playmaker can cover both first five and fullback and started matches in both positions for the Stormers throughout their 2019 Super Rugby.

With Goode and Malins injured, and Owen Farrell at the World Cup, Willemse will have plenty of opportunities to step-in for the Saracens.

“We’re grateful to Western Province for allowing Damian to play his rugby at Saracens for the next three months,” Saracens Director of Rugby Mark McCall said.

ADVERTISEMENT

“He is a young talent and we’re looking forward to welcoming him to the club.”

Willemse has accrued 30 caps for the Stormers since his debut in 2017 as an 18-year-old. His ability, promise and utility saw him called up to the Springboks squad during last year’s Rugby Championship and he debuted against Argentina in the first round of the competition. He earned his first start for South Africa against England on the opening game of their end-of-year tour but made no further appearances for the Springboks.

Video Spacer
ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

F
Flankly 2 hours ago
'Absolute madness': Clive Woodward rips into Borthwick in wake of NZ loss

Borthwick is supposed to be the archetypical conservative coach, the guy that might not deliver a sparkling, high-risk attacking style, but whose teams execute the basics flawlessly. And that's OK, because it can be really hard to beat teams that are rock solid and consistent in the rugby equivalent of "blocking and tackling".


But this is why the performance against NZ is hard to defend. You can forgive a conservative, back-to-basics team for failing to score tons of tries, because teams like that make up for it with reliability in the simple things. They can defend well, apply territorial pressure, win the set piece battles, and take their scoring chances with metronomic goal kicking, maul tries and pick-and-go goal line attacks.


The reason why the English rugby administrators should be on high alert is not that the English team looked unable to score tries, but that they were repeatedly unable to close out a game by executing basic, coachable skills. Regardless of how they got to the point of being in control of their destiny, they did get to that point. All that was needed was to be world class at things that require more training than talent. But that training was apparently missing, and the finger has to point at the coach.


Borthwick has been in the job for nearly two years, a period that includes two 6N programs and an RWC campaign. So where are the solid foundations that he has been building?

4 Go to comments
LONG READ
LONG READ Are the All Blacks doomed to a 70% flatline? Are the All Blacks doomed to a 70% flatline?
Search