Sale Sharks-bound flanker Jacques Vermeulen has set his sights on a surprise Springboks call-up, after seeing his England hopes dashed earlier this year.
The current Exeter Chiefs forward, who will head to the Salford Community Stadium this summer after six years in the South West, represented the Junior Springboks in his early career but has yet to win a senior Test cap.
He was understood to be attracting the interest of Steve Borthwick following his form for the Devonians, but had his England hopes squashed due to his involvement with the Boks U20s side.
Jacques Vermeulen setting sights on Boks call-up
Vermeulen becomes the latest South African forward to head to the North West, following in the footsteps of Faf de Klerk, Lood de Jager, Jean-Luc, Dan and Rob du Preez, Cobus Wiese and Akker van der Merwe among others, and he’s hoping this switch could put him in Rassie Erasmus’ thoughts.
“I still obviously want to play international rugby,” he told the BBC. “If I get the opportunity to one day play for the Springboks that will obviously be a dream come true.”
“If you win trophies and stuff with a team, that makes it so much easier for you to get into international set-ups.
“We’ve seen it now with Northampton Saints like Juarno Augustus, he wasn’t in the picture, but he reached the Champions Cup Final and then got called into the Springboks (alignment camp).
“It just shows you if you play in finals and semi-finals, that opens the door for higher honours.”
Vermeulen joins a Sale Sharks side on the up. Sale have reached the Premiership play-offs in three of the past four seasons and head into the final round of the current campaign in third place.
South African forward and Los Pumas Test star among 15 players farewelled at Premiership club
The versatile back-rower would bring plenty of experience and leadership to Erasmus’ squad. In his time with the Chiefs, Vermeulen made 105 appearances and helped the club win the historic Premiership and European double in 2020. He has also served as on-field captain in the absence of Jack Yeandle and Dafydd Jenkins on multiple occasions.
But, the back-row is a loaded area for the Springboks at the moment. Captain Siya Kolisi, current World Rugby Player of the Year Pieter-Steph du Toit and imposing number eight Jasper Wiese have commanded starting shirts in the past year, and underneath them the likes of Kwagga Smith, Cameron Hanekom, Vincent Tshituka and the aforementioned Augustus are firmly in the mix as well.
International frustrations
Vermeulen has been one of the standout players in the Premiership during his time at Sandy Park, which brought him to the attention of England coach Borthwick after he qualified for the Test side on residency grounds.
But his involvement with the Junior Boks has proved a speedbump in his England hopes, with World Rugby ruling him out of contention.
He has previously vented his frustrations after seeing fellow Junior Bok players Duhan van der Merwe and Pierre Schoeman don a Scotland jersey.
“It’s very frustrating,” he said.
“I don’t know why they’re stopping it because how can they say when you were 19 or 20 years old now you’re capped for a country, but you played for the Under-20s.
“I don’t think they can still keep you underneath that because if you go – look how many guys are playing for Scotland that were playing for Junior Boks, guys like Duhan van der Merwe, Pierre Schoeman, like there’s so many guys.”
READ MORE: Jean de Villiers: ‘Amazing story’ of shock Springboks call-up shows Rassie Erasmus’ ‘vision’
Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/springboks-premiership-star-setting-sights-on-convincing-rassie-erasmus-after-england-hopes-dashed
