Vermeulen looking to win trophies with Sale

Paul Rees catches up with the 29-year-old back rower who is leaving Exeter Chiefs after six years to become a Shark

- Paul Rees

JACQUES Vermeulen played his final game for Exeter last weekend leaving Henry Slade as the only player who started the 2020 Champions cup final against Racing 92 remaining at Sandy Park.

Two others, Luke Cowan-Dickie and Tom O'Flaherty, are at Sale where the 29-year old Vermeulen will be pitching up next month six years after he left the Sharks in South Africa for Exeter.

The Chiefs won the Premiership and Champions Cup double in 2020, but found themselves in a rebuilding phase when a number of players left two years ago.

“It is sad to leave Exeter but it was quite easy to make the decision,” said Vermeulen, who qualified to play for England on residency but was ruled ineligible having appeared in the Junior World Cup for South Africa in 2015 when it was ruled to be the equivalent of their A team.

“It has been really frustrating this season,” he said. “I had three years here when we made finals every year and then you lose half the guys who had become your mates.

“We did not really rotate the squad then and so in came a whole bunch of new, young lads and I found it hard to connect with them. They were all good guys but they had a lot to learn in a rugby sense.

“I am talking about how to win games and knuckle down on areas they need to be good at. We will always refer back to the glory days, but they need to create their own environment and write their own stories.

“After the Gloucester game last month (which Exeter lost 79-17), I sat in the changing room and I thought about the score and looked at the lads around me.