'Any South African player wants to test themselves in the northern hemisphere': Northampton unveil new battering ram signing Juarno Augustus
Northampton have announced the signing of up-and-coming South African No8 Juarno Augustus, the Stormers forward who featured in last October's Springbok Green versus Springbok Gold invitational match last October. The 23-year-old will arrive at Franklin’s Gardens in July having made his Currie Cup breakthrough with Western Province in 2017.
At 6ft 2ins and 116kgs, new club Saints describe him as a "physical No8 built for the Gallagher Premiership, the young battering ram boasting a dynamic and aggressive ball-carrying ability and showing a knack for scoring tries in heavy traffic throughout his promising career so far".
Speaking ahead of his move, Augustus said: “I'm really excited to have the opportunity to join a Northampton club full of pedigree. It's a club known across the world for its history of success in the Premiership and in Europe and their current squad is clearly filled with talent, so I can’t wait to get to Northampton and get started with the group.
“Any South African player wants to test themselves in the northern hemisphere and develop as a player – and I'm no different. I’ve also heard great things about Franklin’s Gardens and the Club’s dedicated supporters, so I hope I can contribute towards some success and silverware for them.”
Named player of the tournament at the 2017 World Rugby U20s Championship in Georgia, he scored in all five Junior Springboks matches and finished with a total of seven tries (the most by any player).
Northampton boss Chris Boyd added: “We are really excited to be bringing Juarno into our group, as his level of talent is clear to see. Juarno is already big and powerful, and we believe that if he can add the right combination of work rate, skill and game understanding to his CV, he has all the attributes he needs to thrive in European rugby.
“At just 23 years old, Juarno still has many years ahead of him to learn his craft and I’m looking forward to seeing his progress within our set-up here at Franklin’s Gardens.”
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I think we need to get innovative with the new laws.
Now red cards are only 20 minutes, Razor should send Finau on a head hunting mission to hospitalise their 10 with a shoulder to the chops.
Give the conspiracy theorists a win.
England played well enough to win but couldnt score when they needed to and couldnt defend a couple of X-Factor moments from Telea which was ultimately the difference. They needed to hold the ball more and make the AB's make more tackles. Territorially they were good for the first 60. Defending their lead and playing pragmatic rugby in the last 20 was silly. The AB's always had the potential to come back. England still have a long way to go, definite progress would have been shown had they won but it seems they are still stuck where they were shortly after the six nations and their tour to NZ
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