Ernst Joubert (born 5 August 1980 in Ceres, Western Cape) is a former South African rugby union player. He played at Number Eight for Saracens in the Aviva Premiership from 2009 to 2015 and was the vice captain of the team. He retired from all rugby at the end of November 2015. Career Western Province and Boland Cavaliers Joubert started his career playing for , being included in the squads for the 2002 Vodacom Cup and Currie Cup competitions. However, he failed to break into the local Super Rugby side, the and, after seven appearances in the 2003 Vodacom Shield competition, he joined near neighbours for the 2003 Currie Cup qualifying rounds. Golden Lions He moved to Johannesburg to join the prior to the 2004 season. However, several injuries prevented him from making his debut for them until the 2005 Currie Cup competition, starting their match against the . He made his Super Rugby debut for the in 2006 by starting their opening match of the 2006 Super 14 season against the . He made close to 50 appearances for the franchise (called the in 2006 and the since then) over the next four seasons. He also regularly featured for the domestically in the Currie Cup competition and a few appearances in the 2009 Vodacom Cup competition. Saracens Joubert left South Africa to join English Premiership side Saracens in 2009. 2009–2010 season He made his debut on 5 September 2009 against London Irish in the London Double Header which finished 18–14 to Saracens. He played the whole match but got a yellow card. Joubert turned out to be a mainstay in the Saracens team with 34 appearances and 10 tries. When the usual Saracens captain Steve Borthwick was injured, Joubert took over the captain's duties for the last two months of the season that included the narrow 33–27 defeat to Leicester Tigers in the 2010 Guinness Premiership Final. In this game, Joubert scored both of the Saracens tries to help Saracens narrowly miss out on victory. Joubert was one of the stars of the Saracens team and was rewarded with a place in the 2010 Guinness Premiership Dream Team with the likes of Chris Ashton and Schalk Brits. 2010–2011 season Joubert started the 2010–2011 Aviva Premiership season with being named as the vice captain of the Saracens team. He again started most of the team's games in which was a