Ernst Joubert (born 5 August 1980) is a South African former rugby union player. He played at Number Eight for

Saracens file:Erhard Reuwich Sarazenen 1486.png, upright 1.5, Late 15th-century History of Germany, German woodcut depicting Saracens ''Saracen'' ( ) was a term used both in Greek language, Greek and Latin writings between the 5th and 15th centuries to ...

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, consisting of 10 clubs, and is the top division of the English rugby u ...

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 p ...

and

Currie Cup The Currie Cup () is South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competition featuring teams representing either entire provinces or substantial regions within provinces. Although it is the premier domestic competition, four South African franc ...

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 has previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Super Rugby started as the S ...

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 Group Limited, Absa Currie Cup premier division, played from 26 July 2003 – 1 November 2003. The 2003 Currie Cup saw the implementation of ...

qualifying rounds.

Golden Lions

He moved to

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

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 Currie Cup Premier Division, 2004 final, the rever ...

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 that most recently competed in the Premiership Rugby, Premiership, the top division of rugby union in England. The club also participated in the European Rugby Champions Cup, European Champion ...

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 and former player, who is currently the head coach of the England national team. As a player, he played as a lock for Bath and Saracens. At international level, he ...

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 home ...

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 a retired English rugby union and former rugby league footballer, one of the few players who have represented England in both rugby codes. Ashton primarily played wing and secondarily played fu ...

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 ( or ) is the largest of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the south west of the island. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" (). Following the Nor ...

in the

Heineken Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Investec 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, 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. The club plays in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby union. It was formed in 1880 as "Northampton St. ...

Toulon Toulon (, , ; , , ) is a city in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France. Located on the French Riviera and the historical Provence, it is the prefecture of the Var (department), Var department. The Commune of Toulon h ...

and

Sale Sharks Sale Sharks are a professional rugby union club from Greater Manchester, England, United Kingdom. Its team play in Premiership Rugby, and have been in England's top division of rugby union continuously since 1995. Originally founded in 1861 as ...

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, 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 union teams from the island of Ireland. They compete in the Irish regional pool of the United Rugby Championship and in the European Rugby Champions Cup, each of which they have won ...

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 are a professional rugby union club based in Worcester, England. They most recently played in Premiership Rugby, the top division of English rugby union, before being suspended by the Rugby Football Union, RFU in September 2 ...

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 in England Saracens F.C. players Rugby union players from the Western Cape Rugby union number eights 21st-century South African sportsmen