Saracens backrow Justin Melck has been called up by Germany for their European Championship clash with Sweden later this month.

The 31-year-old was born in South Africa, but qualifies for Germany through his mother and will hope to be involved in the European Championship qualifier in Stockholm on April 26.

Speaking to the DVR website, Melck said of his call up: “I don’t know a lot about German rugby, but the national team is having a very successful World Cup qualifying so far. 

"Since my youth I have visited Germany regularly with my parents to visit my cousins ​​and grandparents so to get to represent them at this stage of my rugby career is very nice."

Germany coach Kobus Potgeiter said: "Justin is a player with a lot of experience. From him we can all only benefit and I ‘m very excited to see how he fits into our game plan."