Cheers Mouritz

  So we have said ‘Au revoir’ to David Strettle, now to turn our attention to a mid-season departure that took a few by surprise and maybe didn’t quite get the media attention it deserved.    

There has been made much over the last few seasons about how the modern and successful Saracens came to fruition. The first defining pillar most discussed was the 2008 academy class that has provided so many first team and 100 club Saracens. But Mouritz travelled a path less familiar and therefore I feel a greater affinity with him than other players I have seen . Mouritz came to England on a one-off speculative ticket to Bedford Athletic after being told back in his native Natal, South Africa that he would never be big enough to be a Stormers lock or play at the Super Rugby level.

Despite that, Mouritz felt that he still had plenty to offer the rugby world and in that spirit finally got his call from Athletic. It was here that his hard work had to start, however Athletic got relegated that season and Mouritz needed to move on. However the positive influence that Athletic’s coaches were able to install, lit the fire that started him progressing up the ranks and into the Bedford Blues setup.

Still during this time like many semi-pro’s he had a number of menial jobs such as carpet washing and asbestos removal, many of them being thankless tasks and combined with training he started to gain his reputation has one of the hardest working ruby players in the team.

Finally after his first few seasons in the Blues, his chance came in 2009 when he became aware of Saracens being on the lookout for 2^nd row talent. Now he came face to face with the other reason our club has been turned around on the pitch, the new coaching team under Brendan Venter. In the interview at Old Albanians, Mouritz made it clear just how he would do anything to play at a club in the top flight like Saracens and that was good enough for the interview panel to award him a contract.

The rest is of course history and well known to the fez-faithful. He was in the team that won the first premiership title before narrowing missing the chance to play for England in the RWC 11 after being called up to the training camp. Mind you, this might have been one of the World cups to miss if there ever was one for England players. Still wanting to represent the country where he played, he got his chance in the new England setup, where his core values of hard work and effort were much in demand by Stuart Lancaster to try and start repairing the image of England Rugby. It also came at good timing and to help fill the void of a missing and injured Courtney Lawes.

The six nations campaign in 2012 was a good one for Mouritz, but he wasn’t able stay within the England group for long and after 10 caps fell out of the England reckoning being replaced by younger locks and the ever impressive Joe Launchbury.

Despite this he still stayed a vital cog in the Saracens pack and earned his 100 club honours in the old format Heineken cup win over Edinburgh on a very cold and snowy Vicarage road just before the move to AZP. He announcement to leave the club mid-season at the end of 2014 came as a bit of a shock to most observers, perhaps he felt with some impressive young guns coming through to rotation like Kruis and more recently Itoje that it was time for pastures new.

On his announcement he said: "Saracens will always be important to me and it's difficult to leave so many friends in what remains a unique sporting environment.”

"But the Sharks are trying to build something special in Durban. This will be a great rugby challenge for me and a great adventure for my young family."

And so with a new and yet another challenge in mind and the season now over to reflect, I salute a player who has meant a lot to the core of this successful Saracens side and stood for every value the club has aspired to. To quote the Kentucky author James Lane Allen:-

“Adversity does not build character, it reveals it.”

Farewell Mo.