Ernst Joubert (born 5 August 1980 in

Ceres, Western Cape Ceres is the administrative centre and largest town of the Witzenberg Local Municipality in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. Ceres serves as a regional centre for the surrounding towns of Wolseley, Tulbagh, Op-die-Berg and Prince Alf ...

) is a former

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

n rugby union player. He played at Number Eight for

Saracens file:Erhard Reuwich Sarazenen 1486.png, upright 1.5, Late 15th-century Germany in the Middle Ages, German woodcut depicting Saracens Saracen ( ) was a term used in the early centuries, both in Greek language, Greek and Latin writings, to refer ...

in the

Aviva Premiership Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition. The Premiership has consisted of thirteen clubs since 2021, and is the ...

from 2009 to 2015 and was the vice captain of the team. He retired from all rugby at the end of November 2015.

Career

Western Province and Boland Cavaliers

Joubert started his career playing for , being included in the squads for the

2002 Vodacom Cup The 2002 Vodacom Cup was the 5th edition of this annual domestic cup competition. The Vodacom Cup is played between provincial rugby union teams in South Africa from the Currie Cup Premier and First Divisions. Competition There were 14 teams part ...

and

Currie Cup The Currie Cup is South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competition, played each winter and spring (June to October), featuring teams representing either entire provinces or substantial regions within provinces. Although it is the premier ...

competitions. However, he failed to break into the local

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...

side, the and, after seven appearances in the 2003 Vodacom Shield competition, he joined near neighbours for the

2003 Currie Cup The 2003 Currie Cup was the 2003 season of the South African domestic rugby union competition, the Absa Currie Cup premier division, played from 26 July 2003 – 1 November 2003. The 2003 Currie Cup saw the implementation of a new format for th ...

qualifying rounds.

Golden Lions

He moved to

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

to join the prior to the 2004 season. However, several injuries prevented him from making his debut for them until the

2005 Currie Cup The 2005 Currie Cup (known as the ''ABSA Currie Cup'' for sponsorship reasons) was the 67th season in the South African Currie Cup competition since it started in 1889. In a rematch of the 2004 final, the reversed the result, coming from behin ...

competition, starting their match against the . He made his

debut for the in 2006 by starting their opening match of the

2006 Super 14 season The 2006 Super 14 season started on 10 February 2006. The Grand Final was held on 27 May 2006. Super 14 is a provincial rugby union competition with 14 teams from New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. This season was the first of the expansion, ...

against the . He made close to 50 appearances for the franchise (called the in 2006 and the since then) over the next four seasons. He also regularly featured for the domestically in the

competition and a few appearances in the 2009 Vodacom Cup competition.

Saracens

Joubert left South Africa to join English Premiership side Saracens in 2009.

2009–2010 season

He made his debut on 5 September 2009 against

London Irish London Irish RFC is a professional rugby union club which competes in the Premiership, the top division of English rugby union. The club has also competed in the Anglo-Welsh Cup, the European Champions Cup and European Challenge Cup. While ...

in the

London Double Header The London Double Header ran between 2004 and 2017 and typically opened the season of Premiership Rugby (currently known as the Gallagher Premiership due to sponsorship), the top rugby union league in England. Two games were played consecutively a ...

which finished 18–14 to Saracens. He played the whole match but got a yellow card. Joubert turned out to be a mainstay in the Saracens team with 34 appearances and 10 tries. When the usual Saracens captain

Steve Borthwick Stephen William Borthwick (born 12 October 1979) is an English rugby union coach who played lock for Bath and Saracens. At International level, he represented the senior England rugby union team between 2001 and 2010 and captained them betwe ...

was injured, Joubert took over the captain's duties for the last two months of the season that included the narrow 33–27 defeat to

Leicester Tigers Leicester Tigers (officially Leicester Football Club) are a professional rugby union club based in Leicester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1880 and since 1892 plays its hom ...

in the 2010 Guinness Premiership Final. In this game, Joubert scored both of the Saracens tries to help Saracens narrowly miss out on victory. Joubert was one of the stars of the Saracens team and was rewarded with a place in the 2010 Guinness Premiership Dream Team with the likes of

Chris Ashton Christopher John Ashton (born 29 March 1987) is an English rugby union and former rugby league player, and one of the few players who have represented England in both rugby codes. A wing or fullback, he joined Leicester Tigers of Premiership ...

and

Schalk Brits Schalk Burger Brits (born 16 May 1981) is a South African former professional rugby union player who last played for the South Africa national team and the in Super Rugby. He primarily played as a hooker. He was part of the 2019 Rugby World ...

2010–2011 season

Joubert started the 2010–2011

season with being named as the vice captain of the Saracens team. He again started most of the team's games in which was a greatly successful season. Ernst was rewarded for his outstanding performances in the season by being named as the Aviva Premiership Player of the Month for February, also his consistent performances earned him a place in the Sky Sports Aviva Premiership Dream Team 2011. Overall he made 30 appearances and scored three tries in helping the Saracens to win the 2011

with a 22-18 win over

2011–2012 season

This was Joubert's third season as a

player and he started the season in his usual role as a first team regular. He played 26 games for

in helping them to third place in the league. During the season he scored seven tries for Saracens as they lost in the semi-final to

2012–2013 season

Joubert began his fourth season for Saracens in 2012 and made his 100th appearance for the club in the 15-9 defeat to

Munster Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following the ...

in the

Heineken Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Heineken Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...

. Joubert also started for Saracens in their first

match at their new stadium,

Allianz Park Barnet Copthall is a sports venue on the Hendon-Mill Hill borders in London, which houses several complexes, including a local authority-owned swimming pool and gymnasium facilities, a golf-driving range with 9 hole pitch and putt run by Metro ...

, in a 31-11 victory over

Exeter Chiefs Exeter Chiefs (officially Exeter Rugby Club) is an England, English professional rugby union club based in Exeter, Devon. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1871 and since 2006 has played i ...

. During the season, Ernst made a total of 26 appearances for the club, scoring one try. Ernst helped Saracens to the semi-finals of the

and LV Cup where the Saracens team lost in all 3 to

Northampton Saints Northampton Saints (officially Northampton Rugby Football Club) is a professional rugby union club from Northampton, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. They were formed in 1880 as "Northampton St. James", ...

Toulon Toulon (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Tolon , , ) is a city on the French Riviera and a large port on the Mediterranean coast, with a major naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, and the Provence province, Toulon is th ...

and

Sale Sharks Sale Sharks is a professional rugby union club from Greater Manchester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. Originally founded in 1861 as Sale Football Club, now a distinct amateur club, they adopted the n ...

respectively.

2013–2014 season

This was Joubert's fifth season playing for Saracens where he continued as the club's vice captain. Despite added competition from the signing of England number 8

Billy Vunipola Billy Vunipola (born 3 November 1992) is a professional rugby union player who plays at Rugby union positions#Number eight, Number 8 for Saracens F.C., Saracens in the Premiership Rugby, Gallagher Premiership and for the England national rugby ...

, Joubert continued to be a regular starter for Saracens, making 21 appearances in the season and scoring 1 try. His appearances have helped his club to the semi-final of the LV Cup where they lost to

and to the finals of the

and the

playing against

and

respectively. Unfortunately Joubert was injured in the Heineken Cup quarter final against

Ulster Rugby Ulster Rugby is one of the four professional provincial rugby teams from the island of Ireland. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup. The team represents the IRFU Ulster Branch, which is one of ...

which meant that he missed the whole of the end of the season including both finals.

2015–2016 season

Joubert retired from all rugby at the end of Saracens' game against

Worcester Warriors Worcester Warriors Rugby Football Club is a professional rugby union club, based in Worcester, England, that is currently in Administration (law), administration and which has been suspended and will be relegated from Premiership Rugby, the top ...

at Twickenham on 28 November 2015. Following that he immediately moved back to South Africa.

External links

Saracens profile

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Joubert, Ernst 1980 births Living people People from Ceres, Western Cape Afrikaner people South African rugby union players Golden Lions players Lions (United Rugby Championship) players Western Province (rugby union) players South African expatriate rugby union players Expatriate rugby union players in England South African expatriate sportspeople in the United Kingdom Saracens F.C. players Rugby union players from the Western Cape Rugby union number eights