London Wasps sign former Springboks, Leeds Carnegie captain and lock Marco Wentzel – Rugby news
Premiership side London Wasps has confirmed the signing of the former Leeds Carnegie captain and lock Marco Wentzel on Monday, May 23rd.
Earlier last week, Marco Wentzel reached a mutual agreement with the Leeds Carnegie management to part ways with the squad and pave the path to the Wasps. Wentzel’s exceptional on-field performance at second row during the last
season has helped him to earn a place in the Opta team.
South African born Wentzel started his professional rugby career in South Africa. He joined Bulls in 2001 and left them at the end of the 2002 season, later in 2003, he had a stint with the Cats.
Wentzel has also represented Cheetahs in the Currie Cup. In 2002, at the age of 22 he made his international debut for Springboks during their European tour. He played his first international game against the France at Marseille
in November 2002. He played his last international against the Scotland at Murrayfield after a week on November 16.
In 2002, the 32-year-old Wentzel joined the Italian professional rugby union club Benetton Treviso. He joined the premiership during the start of the 2007/08 season when he signed a two-year contract with the Leicester Tigers.
He made 30 appearances for the Tigers before leaving them at the end of 2008/09 season. Wentzel is 6 feet 8 inches tall and weighs 108 kg and became a part of Leeds Carnegie in 2009. He played 37 games for Leeds in the last two seasons.
Wentzel has termed his decision to the leave Leeds Carnegie as one of the hardest of his life. He said, “It was a hard decision for me to leave Leeds. I really enjoyed my time there and made some great friends. I must thank
all my teammates and the fans for their amazing support the past two years.”
However, Wentzel on the other hand has expressed his satisfaction on being able to play for a club like Wasps. He further added that he will be looking to play a role to take the club to their former glory.
London Wasps Chief Executive Chris Thomas has welcomed the signing of the former Springboks. Thomas particularly has admired Wentzel leadership qualities on and off the field and believes this will help the players and the coaching staff in developing the
younger players.
Thomas further added, “Marco will be a fantastic addition to our pack for next season. We think it's really important that we have a balance between young talent and experienced senior players and he definitely fits the bill for the second part of that equation."
Wentzel will join his former team-mate Steve Thompson who has already signed a contract with the Wasps.
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