Michael Evan Willemse (born 14 February 1993) is a South African

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 ...

player for in

Premiership Rugby 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 ...

. His regular position is hooker.

Career

Youth and Varsity Rugby

Willemse was included in the squad at the 2010 Under-18 Academy Week and also played for the team in the Under-19 Provincial Championship competition in the same year. In 2011, he also represented them at the

Craven Week The Craven Week is an annual rugby union tournament organised for schoolboys in the Republic of South Africa. The tournament started in July 1964, and is named after the legendary Springbok rugby union player and coach Dr Danie Craven. The tou ...

competition. In

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

, he played

Varsity Cup Varsity Cup is the collective name for four South African rugby union competitions involving the top rugby playing universities in the country. It was launched in 2008, with eight teams participating in the Varsity Cup competition and each univers ...

rugby with the , scoring three tries in six starts.

Western Province / Stormers

He was called up to the

Vodacom Cup The Vodacom Cup was an annual rugby union competition in South Africa. Annual Vodacom Cup competitions were played between its inaugural season in 1998 and 2015 and was contested between February and May each year. The Vodacom Cup was the succes ...

squad at the conclusion of the Varsity Cup competition and made his first class debut on 13 April 2013 against

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

side and made four appearances in the competition. He made his

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 ...

debut a few months later when he came off the substitutes' bench for their match against following Tiaan Liebenberg's late withdrawal through injury. In 2014, he was called up into the squad for their 2014 Super Rugby match against the , following

Deon Fourie Deon André Fourie (born 25 September 1986) is a South African rugby union footballer who plays for Western Province in the South African Provincial Currie Cup competition. His regular playing positions are Hooker and Loose forward. Fourie pre ...

's late withdrawal through injury.

UK

On 25 March 2019, Willemse would travel to Scotland to sign for

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

in the

Pro14 The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. The current name was adopted in 2021 when the league expanded to include four South Afr ...

on a two-year deal from the 2019-20 season. Following his release from Edinburgh, he signed for English club

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

from the 2021-22 season.

Representative rugby

In 2013, he was included in the South Africa Under-20 squad for the

2013 IRB Junior World Championship The 2013 IRB Junior World Championship was the sixth annual international rugby union competition for Under 20 national teams. The event was organised in France by rugby's governing body, the IRB. A total of twelve nations played in the tournament ...

. He made three substitute appearance – against the

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

(scoring two tries),

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Willemse, Mike South African rugby union players Living people 1993 births Rugby union players from Cape Town Western Province (rugby union) players Stormers players Rugby union hookers South Africa Under-20 international rugby union players Southern Kings players Eastern Province Elephants players Golden Lions players Edinburgh Rugby players London Irish players South African expatriate rugby union players in England Alumni of Grey High School