Schalk Burger
Saracens are delighted to announce the signing of South African international flanker Schalk Burger for the 2016 / 2017 season.
The world class Springbok loose forward will link-up with the reigning Aviva Premiership champions for the 2016 / 2017 season after signing a 2-year deal with the Allianz Park club.
Renowned as 1 of world rugby’s finest loose forwards, Burger has captained South Africa during his stellar 12-year international career and is a former IRB World Player of the year. He has won 86 caps for the Springboks and holds the record for the most tries (14) for a loose forward for his country.
Burger will link up with Saracens after a spell with Japanese club Suntory Sungoliath and Super Rugby’s Stormers.
On his future move to Saracens, the 32-year old Burger said: “I’m delighted to be joining Saracens. I’m extremely excited to have the opportunity to play in both the Aviva Premiership and the European Cup, 2 of the leading competitions in world rugby for such a special club. It’s an exciting challenge for me and my family and hopefully I can add a lot of value both on and off the field to an already successful group of players and coaches. I’m looking forward to playing alongside my new teammates and playing in front of all the Saracens fans and getting to know everyone at Allianz Park.”
Saracens director of rugby, Mark McCall: “Schalk is a Springbok legend, and will add a huge amount of experience and quality to our young English pack of forwards at the club. We have always talked about having the right blend of experience and youth in our squad, so to be able to add one of the world’s finest players to the group is extremely exciting news. By the beginning of next season we will have lost 2 highly experienced back row forwards in Ernst Joubert and Jacques Burger, so to have a player of Schalk’s calibre coming into the squad is fantastic news.”
He is a man who has achieved everything there is to achieve in the game of rugby. Not only is he a fine rugby player, he is a humble and down to earth guy who we believe we will fit into the Saracens environment. We’re all very excited to welcome Schalk and his family to Allianz Park for the 2016 season.”
Schalk Burger Fact File:
Position: Back-row
Height: 6 ft 4 in Weight: 251 lb
Honours:
- World Cup winner (2007)
- Has played in the Rugby World Cup four times (2003, 2007, 2011, 2015)
- SA Rugby Player of the Year (2004 & 2011)
- Young SA Rugby Player of the Year nominee (2003 & 2004)
- IRB Player of the Year (2004)
- Holds the record for the most Test tries by a Springbok flanker (14), with England and New Zealand the teams he has scored the most tries against (three)
- Springbok captain no. 55 in history.
- Burger made his Super Rugby debut for the Stormers in 2004 and his Currie Cup bow for Western Province the same year.
saracens
@ provincefan:
Gert wanted Mitch, he was overruled by that bunch of amateurs masquerading as administrators who run our union into the ground year after year.
Regarding Strauss, I have lost all respect for him after the Mitchell debacle….Mitch picked him from obscurity of club rugby and made him what he was IMO.
The issue with the Lions stemmed from Baywatch Grobler who had an issue because Mitch didn’t play favorites.
He started the players revolt.
I don’t know about you, but if I were coaching a team of so called professionals and they lost every game of the SR season, I would also come down hard on them and expect them to act and train as pro players.
When he did the Force he also had to start from scratch, so I’m not sure many other coaches would have done better with them.
His downfall at the All Blacks was that they lost the semi against Australia at the WC, he still had a 83% win rate or something close to that.
Given the choice between Fleck and Mitch, my choice would definitely have been Mitch.
I don’t think we have a snowball’s chance in hell of winning a comp like SR, and not just because of the coach and Thelo & co., we just don’t have the players to compete at the level it takes to win a tournament of that nature.
I will be happy if we can beat the Bulls (will keep RT quiet) and if we can win our game against the Sharks. That would constitute a successful season
@ provincefan:
You guys still have a stable team in the right areas with tons of experience around. Tons of player movement all around even in NZ. I think the Stormers are still in a good position (to finish ahead of the other local franchises at least.)
MacroPolo wrote:
Nah … Kings Born to Rule, mon …
@ MacroPolo:
Not so sure about that.
Stormers, Bulls and Cheetahs in our group.
The Cheetahs have had our number in Bloemfontein the last few years, and against the Bulls I’m guessing it might be 1/1 as well.
The Argie side is an unknown, if they are anything like the current Puma side, they will whip us too.
The Aussie sides, especially the Brumbies and Tahs should be too good for the Saffa sides as well.
Only the top side of each conference goes through guaranteed, so that might be between the Argies, Bulls or Stormers.
The wild cards are made up of the next highest placed teams from the Australasian groups and then 1 additional team from the two SA groups, which might be the Lions or the Sharks
I don’t think our (SA sides in general) experienced players will be of much use Macro.
They are all playing in Japan and Europe and will then come into SR.
We saw these last few years how it affected players like JPP and Fransie, they were terrible when they returned to the Sharks.
Now we have Eben and Pollard etc playing 12 months of the year.
Something is gotta give and I don’t believe they can serve two masters.
@ MacroPolo:
Not with the uncertainty around your coaches. Dobson did well in the CC. Fleckie is unproven at this level. Going to be very tough for your boys to do as well this year. But the new format might be a blessing in disguise for both our teams.
@robzim
Hi mate,
The best form of discipline is still self-discipline and I might sound old-school and daft here,but imho the best way forward is when the discipline comes from with-in the players themselves,instead of using a “sjambok called sagmoedigheid” to rein people in.
The All Blacks follow that rule under Hansen and look how successful they ‘ve been in doing so.The All Blacks also have a policy of picking players not simply based on talent,but character and how the guy coming in will mesh with their current set-up. Infact it could be said that the AB team resembles PdV’s Boks where the Boks were accussed of being coached by the players. And it works as they have this constant drive that players should improve themselves. Meyer tried doing that,but it was just hot air coming from him and no more,the proof is in the pudding.
Ritchie McCaw,the player, is credited for changing the environment of the AB’s and Hansen being just the supervisor.
Also we don’t have prima donna Boks in the Stormers squad that needs to get whipped as some people claim Mitchell will do,and yet we were still the best SR outfit in SA last year,which does tells a story of its own.
@nortie
I think there was a lot of concern raised about whether Mitch has really changed and apparently he has spend a lot of time with a life coach.But we know Stormers supporters are generally not known for supporting their coaches i.e. Gert Smal and Rassie both saying how people would knock on their car window at traffic robots to tell them off or getting interrupted when having lunch or dinner in a restaurant to berate them is surely not very nice is it?SARU’s Hoskins expressed concerns,because they were of the opinion that you shouldn’t offer that job to someone who they think hasn’t fixed his issues.
@ provincefan:
I don’t believe that Hoskins should have any say about how a franchise should be run or who they should select as coach.
The Kings are a good example of how Hoskins and his cronies stuffed up an Union.
I find it strange that after what Hoskins and saru did to the Lions how quickly de Klerk and Hoskins all of a sudden became such bosom buddies in the “I hate Mitchell Club”
To me it’s obvious that both those plonkers still have an axe to grind because they saw their arse in court against him.
It’s not like Mitchell lost out, the USA job obviously pays better and has more prestige.
The Stormers, IMO, lost out on gaining a good coach. That’s what shamatuerism does to an Union.
Fleck is nowhere near the class of Mitchell and I also think he is too close to the senior players still at the Union to crack the whip if need be.
You mentioned self discipline to Rob, yet the other day you were still wondering about whether we would get Goosen.
Did you see the reports from France about him? I wouldn’t want him if I were looking for a disciplined player to be honest.
@ nortie:
No doubt the guys cant keep playing all year.
With regards to experience, stormers still have malherbe, eben, car, kolisi, jc jv rensburg, vermaak, groom, coleman(i know i know), jdj, dda, cornal, scarra, elstadt with a few seasons of top rugby behind them… Everyone position is covered with some experience if needed. And that will be priceless into the latter stages of the tournament.
The bulls will start with a bang and fizzle out suring the season.
The lions and cheetahs need another miracle run of no injuries like in 2015 and 2013 respectively.
Sharks have too many unknowns but great potential.
I see Mitchell is blaming de Klerk and Hoskins while de Klerk is saying that he only told Thelo after the decision was made not to appoint Mitchell that he (de Klerk) supports him ( Thelo).
Who knows the real story?
All that we know for a fact is that we are now sitting with Robbie F and have no idea how that will work out.
@ robzim:
You know de Klerk is lying when he finishes his interview by saying what a great administrator Wakefield is and you know Hoskins is lying when his lips move
Robbie was of course a brilliant player who had skills that few if any of the current Bok players have. It is unfortunately the type of instinctive skills that cannot be coached
@ MacroPolo:
The loss of Duane is bigger than those left behind.
Those players you named may have experience, but are not world class in their own right.
I doubt we will make much of an impact this year, the Lions should be the best of the SA teams, if just for continuity, but even they won’t come close to winning this competition.
Will be a NZ team again, with perhaps the Tahs from Aus standing a chance
robzim wrote:
Just ask Carel
nortie wrote:
I was also very surprised Kevin had a good word to say about Thelo. I thought he hated his guts since the day Thelo voted for the exclusion of the Lions from Super rugby 🙂
Tiaan liebenbeeg to come out ofnretirement and play for the cheetahs.
Cheetahs finished 12th place in 2015,so my prediction for them in 2016 I reckon is to finish 3rd in the African 01 conference…
Their players in:William Small-Smith(Bulls),Fred Zeilinga(Sharks),Neil Rautenbach(Stormers),Paul Schoeman(Eastern Province Kings),Aranos Coetzee(Brive).
And their players out:Willie le Roux(Sharks),Cornal Hendriks(Stormers),Joe Pietersen(Sharks),Elgar Watts(Eastern Province Kings),Johann Sadie(Agen),Steven Sykes(Eastern Province Kings)Heinrich Brussow (NTT Docomo Red Hurricanes),Jonathan Aldendorf(Griquas)Jean Cook(Zebre),Coenie Oosthuizen(Sharks),Caylib Oosthuizen(Eastern Province Kings),Ewald van der Westhuizen(Griquas),Carel Greeff(Eastern Province Kings),Willie du Plessis (Toulon),Francois Brummer(Bulls),Sarel Pretorius (Newport Gwent Dragons)Danie Dames(released),
Dolph Botha(released)Martin Bezuidenhout (released)Stephan Coetzee(released),Renier Botha(released).
Their extended squad members:Teunis Nieuwoudt,Joseph Dweba,Joubert Engelbrecht,Justin Basson, Reinhardt Erwee,Uzair Cassiem,Reniel Hugo,Luan de Bruin,Tertius Kruger,Maphutha Dolo,Nico Lee,Jacques du Toit,Hilton Lobberts,Dennis Visser,Steven Meiring, Ruan van Rensburg,Zee Mkhabela,JP Smith.
Their half-backs is getting a shake up,then with Willie and Joe both gone,then that makes their attacking options even less potent.A positive for them is that their locks and back-rowers looks reasonably strong and they’ve got some talent out wide.Still it will take something extraordinary from them to go better than their 12th spot from last season.
MacroPolo wrote:
I wonder if he needs money or what the problem is. It is highly unlikely that he will make a successful comeback especially taking his sicknote status into consideration. At his best he was a very good player but those were the days.
@ provincefan:
There is no reason to believe that the Cheetahs and the Lions will not again be amongst the worst teams in the competition. In fact i am about 99 percent sure they will be, that is just how it is.
robzim wrote:
I think the Lions will fare well against the other SA sides, they have a settled team and last year’s CC will have given them more confidence….also the quality of the other SA sides is poor.
They will probably struggle against the NZ opposition, they might surprise though, they play a similar attacking type of game.
Cheetahs will do better without Willie….we saw the last few years how his body language on the field for them was one of abject frustration more than anything else, he was the big fish in the little pond and tried to do too much every time he got the ball….also his last line of defense is non existent.
If they can learn to defend they might just be competive, they don’t usually struggle to score tries, they just allow the opposition to score more tries than them too easily.
robzim wrote:
The lions and cheetahs will again hope to stay relatively injury free to stay competetive.
Competitive
@Robzim
The Lions should do well,in fact I’d say they’d be early front-runners in 2016 along with the Highlanders,Brumbies and Canes.I know Nortie will throw the Waratahs in that mix aswell,but they do have a new coach in Daryl Gibson,although he’s not a step back from the maestro that is Cheika,but what they haven’t done is freshen their squad.Still I reckon the Tahs will be in the top 3 and a certainty for a semi-final slot.
The Lions backrow can cause havoc when let loose…Warwick Tecklenburg,Jaco Kriel and Warren Whitely…so I’d expect more destruction coming from them this season.They were only one or two away wins away from making the play-off’s last season,so Akkers would know what went wrong and would prepare for that in 2016.Then throw in a fearsome pack,exciting centres/wingers and the Lions will do much better this year than 2015.
The Cheetahs are nowhere near the surprise package from 2013.They are now notably bare in the front-row,coupled with the absence of Brüssow,Cornal Hendricks,Jean Cook,Willie and a host of other departed players and it looks painful for the Cheetahs.
@nortie
How do you reckon the Stormers season will go?
Here’s my take on it…
A shambolic/chaotic coaching shuffle to begin with is our biggest excuse if this season is worst then last year.A shaky 10 in Kurt Coleman,who is no general,but can he improve if he gets continuity???Doubt that very much…Won’t be surprise if interim-man Fleckie plays Leyds at 10 at some point,cause he has played in that role at Bishops.We have an all-Bok pack(Frans,Koch,Eben,PSDT,Kolisi,Burger)not a bad engine room,with lightning steppers in the backline,might just be enough in that to top our pool.de Allende needed a break anyway,so he’d come in handy just when we need him.
So we start with 3 derbies,then face the Brumbies,the Jaguares and the Sunwolves(which should be fun to watch).
We then go to Joburg for a Lions derby,then play the Reds and Tahs,and then the Sunwolves again.We then finish with 2 “easy” derbies and 2 games in Oz.
GREAT SEASON COMING FOR THE STORMERS????Maybe not…if it all works out we then play a NZ team in the grand final.I must think positive Nortie,to block out the Stormers headaches.
Watching rugby these days has now become a 24hr thingy…Ulster,Bath,Saracens,Toulon,Japan…only way to keep track of our SA boys.
@ provincefan:
I’m not optimistic about our chances at all.
Some here will say it’s because I’m the president of the glass half empty club, I prefer to think it’s because I’m realistic….semantics I guess 😆
In 20 years of trying we haven’t managed to win SR, and we have had some good teams in the past, so why some would think that we have a chance with this current squad is beyond me.
I hope we at least beat the Bulls once, twice will be great and I hope we don’t lose the game against the Sharks.
We might make up the numbers come playoff time, but that would be a bonus.
Until we get a decent coach and a world class 10 I can’t see us being really competitive against the better sides.
I know in Eben and PSdT we now have two of the better locks, but both are injury prone and we don’t have a hooker who can find his target (since the days of Deon Fourie we haven’t had a hooker who could throw decently under pressure)
As you also mentioned, we don’t have a fetcher who can compete either.
Let’s see how the season goes, IAAS (the president of the glass so full it’s running over club) will tell us how good we will be doing 😆
Nama, who hovers between being very optimistic about the Stormers, yet tempers his optimism with good doses of reality will give us a rundown of which matches we will be winning and which we will lose.
Stormersboy will tell us that this year is our year….hopefully this time he is right
This year is definitely going to be our year!
😀
Seriously though, it’s a squad with major holes in it, not the least being the coaching.
Win or lose I will be there with my jersey on screaming my lungs out
😀
Foreignerforbokcoach wrote:
Hey SB, you must change your nick back, or are you going to wait till end of March when they appoint the Bok coach?
Will have to wait till the last round before we can go to Loftus to watch us smash the Bulls
@ nortie:
I am living in hope, but it seems that AC is the likely appointment, particularly with the timing to coincide with the end of the Japanese season.
There is some talk about Wayne Smith floating around…… but who knows.
@ Foreignerforbokcoach:
AC will probably get it….from the SA coaches’ point of view it’s only fair.
He has paid his dues, been head coach of a franchise for quite a long time and being a previous assistant Bok coach will also help.
I won’t have an issue if he gets the job, can’t see him doing worse than the previous coach
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