Burger puts club before country

South Africa flanker Schalk Burger is making himself unavailable for the national team for this year’s Rugby Championship to concentrate on playing for English club Saracens.

The 33-year-old, voted world player of the year in 2004, is joining the Premiership side after his Stormers career ended in a disappointing thrashing by the Chiefs in the Super Rugby quarterfinals on Sunday.

‘‘My commitment for the moment is to Saracens, so I’ll be saying no to the Boks,’’ Burger said.

After missing the June test series against Ireland because of injury, Burger will not be available for this year’s Rugby Championship against Argentina, Australia and New Zealand.

‘‘It’s a new chapter in my life and I’m looking forward to it. Saracens have a great family culture and great results, so I’m keen to go over and learn and come back a better person,’’ he said.

Burger has a two-year deal with Saracens and has not set his sights any further.

‘‘Let’s see how the body feels after the two years. I’ll be 35 going on 36.

‘‘I know [former Springboks team-mate] Victor [Matfield] made it to 38 but I’m not sure I’ve got that longevity left in me.’’

Saturday’s 60-21 home defeat for the Stormers by the Chiefs was not the farewell Burger had wanted..

‘‘It was a horror movie for us, the harder we tried the worse things got,’’ he said.

‘‘So my last game at Newlands was not memorable but it’s been a good innings.’’

The fiery blond-haired flanker played in his fourth Rugby World Cup last year where he extended his number of international caps to 86.