Durban — South Africa’s notorious crime scene has robbed the English Premiership and the Exeter Chiefs, in particular, of one of their star players after Jacques Vermeulen had his passport stolen while on holiday in his native Cape Town.
According to devonlive.com, Vermuelen is trapped in South Africa and missed the Chief’s first match of the new English season last week after his passport was stolen from his car.
Junior Springbok Vermeulen played 12 matches for Western Province and then 38 for the Sharks before joining Exeter in 2019 on a three-year deal.
The 27-year-old has grown into one of the club’s most valuable players and he returned to South Africa in the English off-season to have his passport renewed, only to have it stolen.
Vermeulen is a tough flanker and has scored 19 tries in 46 games for the Chiefs and he would have been an automatic choice when they played the Leicester Tigers in the opening round of the Premiership last week. Fortunately for the Chiefs — and Vermuelen — they won 24-20.
Exeter are now doing their best to get an emergency visa organised for Vermeulen but are unlikely to have him back in England for their match against the Worcester Warriors on Sunday in round two of the Premiership.
Vermeulen is one of the most powerful loose forwards playing England — he weighs in at 113kgs and is just under 2m tall (1.97m).
Schooled at Paarl Gimnasium, Vermeulen played SA Schools in 2013, and in 2014 and 2015 he represented the SA Under-20 side.
IOL Sport