Former Junior Bok's England dream crushed

SPOTLIGHT: Exeter loose forward Jacques Vermeulen expressed his frustration being ineligible to represent England according to BBC.

The former Shark made the move from South Africa to join Exeter Chiefs in 2019 and helped them win a Premiership and Champions Cup double in 2020.

Vermeulen qualifies for England under the five-year residency rule and is in the process of gaining British citizenship.

But his appearance for the Junior Springboks back in 2015 makes him ineligible as it’s deemed to be the country’s second team.

Players can only transfer to a new international side if they were born in the country they wish to transfer to or have parents or grandparents that were born in that country – something that doesn’t apply to Vermeulen.

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“It’s very frustrating,” he told BBC Radio Devon.

“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 U20s.”

Vermeulen says it’s even more frustrating when he sees his fellow countrymen playing for other nations who have had the same level of international experience as him.

“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.

“I get really angry about it because I’m like, how can you stop a guy after they played 10 years ago for a country.”

On the pitch Vermeulen says he feels that Exeter are turning a corner after their tough start to the Premiership season which saw them lose all six of their league games.

They won all three of their Premiership Cup games and face league leaders Bath before travelling to Durban to face his former team the Sharks in the Champions Cup.

“I am really excited. I played for them for three years, had a lovely three years with them as well,” he said.

“My career really kicked off there, I played some of my best rugby for them before I came here to the Chiefs and it’s really exciting for me to show the boys around.

“All the lads in the squad has been asking ‘how is Durban?’ and I can’t say enough good things about Durban because it’s such a beautiful place to go to.”

Source: @BBC