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'He rarely speaks': Leicester's compelling insight on new Springboks recruit Wiese

(Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Uncapped No8 Jasper Wiese will fly out to join up with the Springboks at the end of the Gallagher Premiership season next weekend with a ringing erndorsement from Steve Borthwick, his Leicester head coach who was fulsome in his praise over what his bulldozing forward has achieved in his first full season in England.

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Leicester snapped up the 25-year-old Wiese when the Cheetahs unravelled in the pandemic, their team no longer participating in the Guinness PRO14 and their players falling prey to offers from elsewhere.

Wiese arrived in the East Midlands as an unknown but he has become such a favourite that he forced his way into the 46-strong Springboks squad announced last Saturday by Rassie Erasmus, who hinted he could now go on and have a huge part to play against the touring Lions following the ankle problem picked up by Duane Vermeulen, an injury that has since been operated on.

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“Lucky for us Jasper can play No8 with Duane’s injury now,” said Erasmus at the weekend. “You can’t ignore the form he is in. He is just the outstanding South African guy playing Premiership, he is just knocking the door down.”

His stats illustrate his impact. In 14 Premiership appearances for Leicester, there have been 177 carries for 705 metres from Wiese, an average gain of 3.98 metres per carry. There have also been 117 tackles, 54 defenders beaten, 21 passes, eight clean breaks, five offloads, four turnovers won and three tries.

On the debit side, you will find 16 penalties conceded (13 in defence), eleven turnovers conceded, two yellow cards and one red, but those negatives haven’t diluted his appeal to Leicester boss Borthwick who gave RugbyPass an insight into the Wiese that will arrive in fresh and new to the Springboks. 

“Generally he is a quiet, reserved character. On the field, he leads by actions. He rarely speaks but when he does his words have a significant effect on those around him. He wants to learn all the time, wants to get better, he’s brilliant. It has been a privilege to coach him over this last period of time.     

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“They will know him very well. They have been tracking him. He is a real passionate, driven rugby player. A fierce competitor and still a young man. He is young in his professional rugby career. He is desperate to take on every bit of learning to improve. 

“There are plenty of (standout) moments. He is a player who the other players love playing with. If your teammates want to go on the field with you then it says a lot about your character and what you bring to them.”

   

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J
JW 1 hour ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Where? I remember saying "unders"? The LNR was formed by the FFR, if I said that in a way that meant the 'pro' side of the game didn't have an equal representation/say as the 'amateur' side (FFR remit) that was not my intent.


But also, as it is the governing body, it also has more responsibility. As long as WR looks at FFR as the running body for rugby in France, that 'power' will remain. If the LNR refuses to govern their clubs use of players to enable a request by FFR (from WR) to ensure it's players are able to compete in International rugby takes place they will simply remove their participation. If the players complain to the France's body, either of their health and safety concerns (through playing too many 'minutes' etc) or that they are not allowed to be part in matches of national interest, my understanding is action can be taken against the LNR like it could be any other body/business. I see where you're coming from now re EPCR and the shake up they gave it, yes, that wasn't meant to be a separate statement to say that FFR can threaten them with EPCR expulsion by itself, simply that it would be a strong repercussion for those teams to be removed (no one would want them after the above).


You keep bringing up these other things I cannot understand why. Again, do you think if the LNR were not acting responsibly they would be able to get away with whatever they want (the attitude of these posters saying "they pay the players")? You may deem what theyre doing currently as being irresponsible but most do not. Countries like New Zealand have not even complained about it because they've never had it different, never got things like windfall TV contracts from France, so they can't complain because theyre not missing out on anything. Sure, if the French kept doing things like withholding million dollar game payments, or causing millions of dollars of devaluation in rights, they these things I'm outlining would be taking place. That's not the case currently however, no one here really cares what the French do. It's upto them to sort themselves out if they're not happy. Now, that said, if they did make it obvious to World Rugby that they were never going to send the French side away (like they possibly did stating their intent to exclude 20 targeted players) in July, well then they would simply be given XV fixtures against tier 2 sides during that window and the FFR would need to do things like the 50/50 revenue split to get big teams visiting in Nov.

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