MickeyD
RIP
- Joined
- Oct 4, 2010
- Messages
- 139,117
Our Springbok captain, Jean de Villiers has announced his retirement from international rugby following a jaw fracture sustained durng the 2015 Rugby World Cup..
Biography
He was born on 24 February 1981 in Paarl, South Africa and attended Paarl Gymnasium and then studied further at Stellenbosch University.
Standing 1.90m (6'3") and weighing in at 103 kg and combining this with his pace, gave him the perfect attributes to make the centre position his in most teams that he represented.
He represented SA Schools (1999), SA U19 (2000) and SA U21 (2001/02).
The first sign of his future greatness was in the South African Sevens team, which finished second in the 2001/02 World Sevens Series and third in the 2002 Commonwealth Games.
In 2002 he represented SA U21 at the U21 Rugby World Cup, where he scored four tries in the tournament that the Junior Springboks won.
In the same year he was selected for the Springboks. In his debut game against France, he suffered a major knee injury after five minutes and had to wait until 2004 before being selected again. In all he was capped 109 times, 37 times as the captain.
Of the 109 Tests played, he has been on the winning side 71 times, lost 35 times and drawn three times.
He scored 26 tries for the Springboks and is the most capped Springbok centre of all time with 94 Tests. The other 15 Tests were on the wing.
Major successes:
RWC (2007)
Tri-Nations (2004, 2009)
SA Rugby Player of the Year (2008, 2013)
Players' Player of the Year (2008)
Senior Career
2001–09: Western Province (37)
2005–09: Stormers (53)
2009–10: Munster (23)
2010–15: Western Province (13)
2011–15: Stormers (52)
Representative teams
1999: SA Schools
2000: SA Under-19
2001/02: SA Under-21
2002: SA Sevens
2002 - 2015: South Africa
Fare ye well, LEGEND!!
Biography
He was born on 24 February 1981 in Paarl, South Africa and attended Paarl Gymnasium and then studied further at Stellenbosch University.
Standing 1.90m (6'3") and weighing in at 103 kg and combining this with his pace, gave him the perfect attributes to make the centre position his in most teams that he represented.
He represented SA Schools (1999), SA U19 (2000) and SA U21 (2001/02).
The first sign of his future greatness was in the South African Sevens team, which finished second in the 2001/02 World Sevens Series and third in the 2002 Commonwealth Games.
In 2002 he represented SA U21 at the U21 Rugby World Cup, where he scored four tries in the tournament that the Junior Springboks won.
In the same year he was selected for the Springboks. In his debut game against France, he suffered a major knee injury after five minutes and had to wait until 2004 before being selected again. In all he was capped 109 times, 37 times as the captain.
Of the 109 Tests played, he has been on the winning side 71 times, lost 35 times and drawn three times.
He scored 26 tries for the Springboks and is the most capped Springbok centre of all time with 94 Tests. The other 15 Tests were on the wing.
Major successes:
RWC (2007)
Tri-Nations (2004, 2009)
SA Rugby Player of the Year (2008, 2013)
Players' Player of the Year (2008)
Senior Career
2001–09: Western Province (37)
2005–09: Stormers (53)
2009–10: Munster (23)
2010–15: Western Province (13)
2011–15: Stormers (52)
Representative teams
1999: SA Schools
2000: SA Under-19
2001/02: SA Under-21
2002: SA Sevens
2002 - 2015: South Africa
Fare ye well, LEGEND!!
