Vermeulen excited to visit old friends

EXETER start their Champions Cup campaign away in South Africa on Saturday, but Jacques Vermeulen will feel very much at home.

- PAUL REES

The Chiefs face the Sharks at Rugby Park in Durban, a ground the 29year old flanker knows well having played there for three seasons before moving to Exeter in 2019.

“I am really excited about it,” said Vermeulen, who was born on the other side of the country in Paarl and came through Western Province’s system. “I had a lovely three years with the Sharks and played some of my best rugby there before joining the Chiefs.

“I can’t wait to show the boys around. They have been asking about Durban and I cannot say enough good things about the place. The weather will be brilliant and so will the food.

“December is the summer holiday there and it will be very busy. My whole family is flying across for the game and it will be great to catch up with them and the friends I made in my time there.”

The Sharks may have qualified for the Champions Cup through the back door as Challenge Cup winners, but they can almost field a side of Springboks with the likes of Ox Nche, Bongo Mbonambi, Vincent Koch, Siya Kolisi, Eben Etzebeth, Grant Williams, the Hendrikse brothers, Makazole Mapimpi, Andre Esterhuizen, Lukhanyo Am and Aphelele Fassi in their ranks.