Former Junior Bok joins Zebre

TRANSFER NEWS: Zebre Parma have confirmed that they have signed former South African Under-20 star Dennis Visser.

The South African lock will join the Italian United Rugby Champions side from the French ProD2 club RC Narbonne.

The 29-year-old former Cheetahs and Junior Bok has signed until 2023 with the possibility of extending his contract for a further another year.

He will join his new Zenre Parma teammates at the start of the 2022/23 season.

“I am honoured to join the Zebre and am looking forward to reaching Parma,” Visser said.

“I want to make the most of every opportunity and every challenge that presents itself to me to grow as a player, leaving my mark and making my contribution to the club."

Born in Benoni, Visser is a product of the same Blue Bulls academy that produced the likes of Bakkies Botha, Victor Matfield, Danie Rossouw and RG Snyman.

Visser featured for the South Africa U20s in the Junior World Championships in France, a tournament in which they finished third.

The second row spent three years in Pretoria, taking part in the U19 and U21 competitions of the Bulls and as well as moonlighting in the Varsity Cup for the UP Tuks, who reached the semi-finals of that competition in 2015.

He made his Bulls debut that year, but an ankle injury kept him off the pitch until the end of the season.

He moved to Bloemfontein where he had the opportunity to play for the Cheetahs and had a stint with the Griffons –  before travelling to France and RC Narbonne in 2019.

He spent the last three seasons at the French side, which gained promotion to the ProD2 from the Federale 1 at the end of the 2020/21 season. The towering lock made a total of 49 appearances for the Transalpini, including 42 as a starter.