Burger was jealous but now he is just excited

“It’s always tough when the team do well and you’re not involved,” he said. “You’re almost a bit jealous because you want to be part of it. But, at the same time, you’re really happy for everybody.

“Will’s form is good for me because I love the challenge. Even though physically there’s still a lot of work to be done, I think I’ll make up for that in my keenness to be out there again. My goal is to get back into the No7 jersey and be in regular rotation with Will; it’s a healthy situation for me.”

A healthy situation is something Burger has not experienced for a long while. In fact, his injury was so serious the club could not find a British surgeon prepared to saw into the tibia to realign his knee. Not ready for an early retirement, the back-row flew out to South Africa in search of the fix.

And while the crooked-nosed forward could be forgiven for wanting to come back gently, Burger has no intention of taking it easy.

“I’m not going to hold back on anything,” said Burger. “I’ve no fear of getting hurt again, I’m not afraid of twisting my knee or anything like that. I’m not a tactical player; I just have to work my nuts off and hit people hard if they run at me, it’s pretty easy.”

There were times when Burger thought he may never play again. Saracens face Worcester this weekend and, with three games of the regular season remaining, Burger will be making up for lost time.

“It’s been a really, really long year,” said Burger. “There were doubts whether I would come back but I’ve still got the hunger and there’s a lot I still want to do — it’s where I belong.”