Jacques Burger (born 29 July 1983 in

Windhoek Windhoek (, , ) is the capital and largest city of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level, almost exactly at the country's geographical centre. The population of Windhoek in 20 ...

South West Africa South West Africa ( af, Suidwes-Afrika; german: Südwestafrika; nl, Zuidwest-Afrika) was a territory under South African administration from 1915 to 1990, after which it became modern-day Namibia. It bordered Angola (Portuguese colony before 1 ...

) is a retired Namibian

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

loose forward who finished his career at

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 ...

Club career

He played for

, having joined them in the 2009/10 season, and played until the end of the 2015/16 season. The back row quickly earned a reputation as one of the toughest tacklers in the

English Premiership The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

following his arrival midway through the 2009/10 season – being named the Saracens Player of the Year in 2010/1

During his time at Saracens he won two Premiership Rugby, Premiership titles in 2011 and 2015. Burger started both finals. He retired from professional rugby at the end of the 2015/2016 season. He has previously played for the Bulls. He played in France, in Aurillac in the 2007/08 season. Burger was brought in by Brendan Venter as a replacement for Wikus van der Heerden, who returned to

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 ...

International career

He was captain of the

Namibia national rugby union team The Namibia national rugby union team represents Namibia in men's international rugby union competitions nicknamed the Welwitschias, are a tier-two nation in the World Rugby tier system, and have participated in five Rugby World Cup competition ...

and made his international debut against

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most cent ...

in 2004. He participated with the squad at the

2007 Rugby World Cup The 2007 Rugby World Cup was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, which was hosted by France from 7 September to 2 ...

and

2011 Rugby World Cup The 2011 Rugby World Cup was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japan and South Af ...

. At the

, the IRB's Rugby News Service listed Jacques Burger as one of the top 5 players of the tournament. Rugby News Service stated that Burger was "consistently the shining light in his side" and that "even as opposition scores mounted, the 28-year-old continued to tirelessly throw himself into the tackle and threaten turnover ball in the rucks." Following a concussion versus

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

in the

2015 Rugby World Cup The 2015 Rugby World Cup was the eighth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial rugby union world championship. The tournament was hosted by England from 18 September to 31 October. Of the 20 countries competing in the World Cup in 2011, there was onl ...

Burger announced his retirement from international rugby.

Private life

Burger resides in Stampriet. He works on the family farm, raising livestock.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burger, Jacques 1983 births Living people Blue Bulls players Bulls (rugby union) players Expatriate rugby union players in England Expatriate rugby union players in France Expatriate rugby union players in South Africa Griquas (rugby union) players Namibia international rugby union players Namibian expatriate rugby union players Namibian expatriate sportspeople in England Namibian expatriate sportspeople in France Namibian expatriate sportspeople in South Africa Namibian rugby union players Rugby union flankers Rugby union players from Windhoek Saracens F.C. players White Namibian people