The Stormers have granted Juarno Augustus an early release from his contract to move to the Northampton Saints in England but expect him to return.

Augustus has signed a two-year deal with the English Premiership side and will leave the Stormers in July but, according to a statement by the Cape side, he ‘intends to return to his home union in 2023 with even more to offer’.

A proud product of Cape Town, Augustus attended Tygerberg High School and represented Western Province at the U18 Academy Week before joining the Western Province Rugby Institute after school.

Having performed for WP U19 team, Augustus was selected for the Junior Springbok team in 2016 and went on to be named World Rugby U20 Championship Player of the Tournament that year, scoring seven tries in Georgia.

He made his senior Western Province debut in 2017 and played his first game for the Stormers later that same year.

Augustus has since accumulated 19 caps for the Stormers and played 15 times for Western Province, but has seen his growth stall, having suffered a few injury setbacks in the past few years.

‘This is a great opportunity for me to experience a new environment and grow on and off the field so that I can add more value in the blue-and-white jersey in the future,’ Augustus said in a statement.

Stormers head coach John Dobson said that Augustus will benefit from the experience of playing in England and return a more experienced player.

‘We were not going to stand in Juarno’s way and wish him all the best, he is still very young and will add to his game in the next two years before returning to us.

‘He is a proud product of this region and we look forward to seeing him develop his game and return a better player one day. We have seen the benefit in the past of such a move with our current captain Steven Kitshoff and we are hopeful that Juarno’s career will follow the same path,’ he said.

The Stormers have in the interim signed Willie Engelbrecht on loan from the Pumas, while promising eighthman Evan Roos has turned his loan move from the Sharks into a permanent one.

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