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'It's time for a change': Wasps sign Springboks prop Vincent Koch
By Liam Heagney
Wasps have pulled off a transfer coup, securing the services of Vincent Koch, the coveted Springboks tighthead who has been playing his club rugby for English rivals Saracens since 2016 after he joined the Londoners from the Super Rugby Stormers. A 2019 World Cup winner, the prop has gone from strength to strength with his country and was an important figure in their recent international campaign, featuring in ten of their 13 matches in 2021.
Rather than continue on at Saracens, Koch will now look to keep his Test selection prospects ticking over by switching to Wasps for the 2022/23 season leading into the Springboks' World Cup title defence in France.
“The saying goes ‘a change is as good as a holiday’," explained the 31-year-old Koch, whose loyalty to Saracens resulted in him playing in the Championship for them following their automatic relegation following the 2019/20 Premiership season.
"Saracens have been amazing over the last couple of years and I have had great times there that I will always treasure. But I believe it’s time for a change and a new challenge at Wasps is what I need for the next chapter of my career.
“I am looking forward to joining Wasps ahead of the 2022/2023 season. I believe Wasps are going in an exciting direction under Lee Blackett and I can add to their vision and goals next season.”
Delighted to have signed the 120kg forward, Wasps boss Blackett added: “We have been looking for a world-class tighthead-prop and in Vincent, we have found our man. We are thrilled to be able to bring an experienced international forward like him on board for next season. He will really add to our scrum and our environment next season as he has been a proven winner at club and international levels for many years now.”
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Latest Comments
Nah, that just needs some more variation. Chip kicks, grubber stabs, all those. Will Jordan showed a pretty good reason why the rush was bad for his link up with BB.
If you have an overlap on a rush defense, they naturally cover out and out and leave a huge gap near the ruck.
It also helps if both teams play the same rules. ARs set the offside line 1m past where the last mans feet were😅
Go to commentsYeah nar, should work for sure. I was just asking why would you do it that way?
It could be achieved by outsourcing all your IP and players to New Zealand, Japan, and America, with a big Super competition between those countries raking it in with all of Australia's best talent to help them at a club level. When there is enough of a following and players coming through internally, and from other international countries (starting out like Australia/without a pro scene), for these high profile clubs to compete without a heavy australian base, then RA could use all the money they'd saved over the decades to turn things around at home and fund 4 super sides of their own that would be good enough to compete.
That sounds like a great model to reset the game in Aus. Take a couple of decades to invest in youth and community networks before trying to become professional again. I just suggest most aussies would be a bit more optimistic they can make it work without the two decades without any pro club rugby bit.
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