Monster lock targets Boks after Saints move

by | Jul 2, 2025 | African Golf News

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JJ van der Mescht has expressed his desire to play for the Springboks after joining Northampton Saints for the 2025-26 season.

The 26-year-old still had two years left on his contract with Stade Francais, but reportedly fell out of favour with head coach Paul Gustard last season.

The towering 1.98m, 145kg second rower made 75 appearances for the Top 14 club, scoring seven tries, including a 50m breakaway effort against Saints in January.

Van der Mescht’s move to England ends any hopes of qualifying to play for France – a long-term goal when he joined Stade in 2021 – and he now wants to represent the Springboks.

“I’m hungry to keep improving and take my game to the next level. I have ambitions to play for the Springboks one day, but I know that starts with improving and performing well for Saints – and that’s a challenge I’m really excited about,” he said.

“I’m also really looking forward to coming over and playing in the Premiership. A lot of my friends play in the league, so I’ve been watching it closely, and it’s always been a goal of mine to come over and play in England. I’m proud to be making that move and excited to see what I can bring to the competition.

“I’ll be coming over to Northampton for the first time in a few weeks, and my wife and I are very excited for that.”

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The former Sharks forward made 23 appearances across Super Rugby, the Rainbow Cup and Currie Cup before heading to France. He also played five matches for the Junior Boks at the 2019 World Rugby U20 Championship, scoring twice as South Africa finished third.

“Our new scrum coach, Jaco Pienaar, had worked with JJ at the Sharks, and said to us that he is an unbelievably powerful athlete who can play the game,” said Saints director of rugby Phil Dowson.

“JJ’s potential is through the roof. As well as his obvious physical attributes, he can really play ball – Jaco joked that JJ is a flyhalf trapped in a second row’s body. He’s also capable of making big plays which can turn matches, like charging down a kick and sprinting in for a 50m try when we played them in January, for example.

“He’s very good at knocking mauls apart, he’s very good at carrying hard, and he’s got a good skillset already, but I have no doubt that our coaching group can get a lot more out of him as well.

“We have a fine track record of developing top-quality locks – not just in the current crop of second row forwards already in our squad, but if you look at the likes of David Ribbans, Alex Moon, and Temo Mayanavanua as well, who came on leaps and bounds during their time here at Saints.

“So, it was a good match. JJ has aspirations to improve and get the most out of his undoubted potential, and the big selling point for him was that at Saints we have the ability to coach him really hard to achieve that.”

Photo: @jj_van_der_mescht/Instagram

The post Monster lock targets Boks after Saints move appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.