Springboks star lock headed to Harlequins

Springbok lock Danelle Lochner has signed with Harlequins Women, joining a rising number of her national teammates in pursuing opportunities overseas.

Lochner is the third South African to join the London club, after Babalwa Latsha in her second season and Aseza Hele in her first.

SPRINGBOKS STAR SIGNS FOR HARLEQUINS

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This season’s tournament will also include Lindelwa Gwala (Ealing Trailfinders), Catha Jacobs (Leicester Tigers), and Amber Schonert (Sale Sharks).

Lochner, who turns out for Brackenfell Rugby Club and DHL Western Province, is excited to join Harlequins.

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“I am really grateful for the opportunity that I have been given and super excited about this,” said Lochner.

“To be playing amongst the best players in the world will be a massive opportunity to grow my game and develop as a player. I am hoping to expand my skill set and learn from this new environment.

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“It is great that our players are been seen and asked to join those international teams as it will build our depth and experience in the squad and that is great.”

Lochner, a former Proteas netball player, made her Springbok debut against Canada earlier this year and played in all 10 tests in 2023, scoring two tries.

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GOOD NEWS FOR WOMEN’S RUGBY

SA Rugby’s High-Performance Manager for Women’s Rugby, Lynne Cantwell, welcomed the move.

“We’re really pleased with Danelle’s opportunity to join Quins for 23/24 season,” said Cantwell according to SA Rugby.

“We’ve been building a great relationship with Quins for the past two seasons. This means Danelle will join Babalwa and Aseza for the season ahead, which makes her move over a much smoother land.

“Having the Springbok Women players exposed to a daily high-performance environment and league is the goal of the partnership, and positioning the players in a team where they’ll have a good experience is one of our priorities.

“Danelle has hit the ground running since making her test debut this year. We have no doubt she will learn a lot from her time, playing with and competing against some of the best players in the world.

“Then, like the other players abroad, we aim for them to return and apply those learnings to South Africa’s domestic and international game to help us accelerate our growth.”

Harlequins head coach Amy Turner said: “Danelle is a naturally talented athlete, who has transitioned well from netball into rugby over the past couple of years. She’s very dextrous and is a physically imposing player, who fits well with how we want to play the game and the DNA of a club like Harlequins.

“We’re excited to see how she develops in the environment alongside experienced internationals in Sarah (Bonar), Abbie (Fleming) and Kaitlan (Leaney), and look forward to welcoming her and all our other internationals back over the coming weeks.”