Adolf Weich Malan (born 6 September 1961) is a former

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player. He played 159 matches for

Northern Transvaal Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a r ...

. His usual position was as lock, where he also played for the national team, the

Springboks The South Africa national rugby union team, commonly known as the Springboks (colloquially the Boks, Bokke or Amabokoboko), is the country's national team governed by the South African Rugby Union. The Springboks play in green and gold jersey ...

Playing career

Malan made his debut for South Africa on 26 August 1989 against a

World XV A World XV is a rugby union team organised on an unofficial, ''ad hoc'' basis and typically composed of invited players from various countries. Several World XVs have been arranged by various bodies, often to take part in celebration and testimoni ...

team. The match was played at

Newlands Newlands may refer to: Places Australia * Newlands, Queensland, a locality in the Whitsunday Region New Zealand * Newlands, Wellington, a suburb of Wellington South Africa * Newlands, Cape Town, a suburb of Cape Town * Newlands, Johannesbur ...

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

, and Malan started at lock, with the Springboks winning 20 to 19. He played in the subsequent test against the World XV, which was won 22 to 16 at Ellis Park. Malan next played for the Springboks in 1992, when he earned five international caps for South Africa, the first of which was against the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987 ...

at Ellis Park, which the Springboks lost 24 to 27, as well as the following test against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. He then played in two tests against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, winning one and losing one. Malan's last test was on 14 November 1992 against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Malan was known as a strong ball winner in the line–out.

Test history

Accolades

In 2000 he was inducted into the

University of Pretoria The University of Pretoria ( af, Universiteit van Pretoria, nso, Yunibesithi ya Pretoria) is a multi-campus public university, public research university in Pretoria, the administrative and de facto capital of South Africa. The university was ...

Hall of fame.

Trivia

Malan and his lock partner against the

Niel Hugo Daniël Pieter Hugo (born 31 March 1964) is a South African former rugby union player that played two tests for the Springboks. Playing career Hugo grew up in Victoria West in the Northern Cape and studied at Stellenbosch University. He made ...

had the honour of being the tallest Springbok players at 2.04m. In 2008

Andries Bekker Andries Bekker (born 5 December 1983 in Cape Town, South Africa) is a South African rugby union player for the Springbok rugby team as well as Kobelco Steelers in the Japanese Top League. Playing career Bekker made his South African debut in 2 ...

became the tallest Springbok, at 2.08m.

References

External links