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

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player for in Championship Rugby. 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 ...

competition. In

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

, 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 unive ...

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, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

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 featuring teams representing either entire provinces or substantial regions within provinces. Although it is the premier domestic competition, four South African franc ...

debut a few months later when he came off the substitutes' bench for their match against following

Tiaan Liebenberg Christiaan Rudolph Liebenberg (born 18 December 1981) is a South African professional rugby union player who played as a hooker. He started his career at the in 2002 before joining the following year. He made 64 appearances for the Kimberley- ...

'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's late withdrawal through injury.

UK

On 25 March 2019, Willemse traveled to Scotland to sign for

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

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. For sponsorship reasons the league is known as the Vodacom United Rugby Championship in ...

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 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

Premiership Rugby 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 ...

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, IRB Junior World Championship, an 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 twe ...

. He made three substitute appearance – against the

USA The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...

(scoring two tries),

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, and

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

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 21st-century South African sportsmen Ikey Tigers players