FORMER South Africa international Wynand Olivier has described countryman Francois Venter as an “unbelievable talent” and a “big leader”.

Venter, 27, who has won seven caps for the Springboks, has arrived at Worcester Warriors from Cheetahs after agreeing a two-year contract.

Olivier, who won the World Cup with South Africa in 2007, is eight years older than Venter and previously played alongside him at Pretoria-based Bulls.

Venter is now set to challenge the 35-year-old for one of the starting centre slots — but Olivier insisted he was delighted to have him on board at Sixways.

“He was only a youngster when I was at Bulls,” said Olivier who left the Super Rugby outfit for Montpellier in 2013 before joining Worcester two years later.

“But I know Francois quite well. He is an unbelievable talent and a very hard worker so I am excited that he has come here.”

Venter made his international debut against England at Twickenham in November 2016 and last featured for South Africa in their 24-22 defeat to Wales at the Principality Stadium in December 2017.

During his four years at Cheetahs, Venter made nearly 100 appearances and was appointed captain in 2016.

According to Opta, the Bloemfontein-born back made 21 clean breaks — more than any centre in the Pro 14 last season — and was also among the top three players in his position for metres (789), offloads (28) and try assists (seven).

“Francois is a big leader having captained the Cheetahs in the Pro14 and Super Rugby,” Olivier continued.

“He has played a few Tests for the Springboks and I think he still wants to push for a spot.

“He is probably one of the hardest workers I have seen in the last couple of years, not just off the pitch but on it as well as he wants to succeed.

“I am very excited to have him here as I think he is going to push a lot of the players.

“He is not one of those guys who is going to sit down and give someone the opportunity to play.

“I think there is going to be massive competition in pre-season — not just in the centres but the back row and second row too — for who is going to play in that first Premiership game.

“I am very much looking forward to it.”

Olivier hopes Warriors will not be “bullied by injuries” again after starting the past few seasons with a long casualty list.

But having made 11 summer signings Olivier, who missed almost the entire 2017-18 campaign due to a hamstring problem, believes Worcester have now got plenty of strength in depth to cope.

“There was a massive list of injured players (last season),” Olivier said.

“It was always a struggle for (director of rugby) Alan Solomons to select a team (due to the amount of injuries).

“But the signings he has made have been pretty good and has given us something to look forward to.”