André Stefan Pretorius (born 29 December 1978 in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

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 ...

) is a former

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 ...

footballer that played professionally between 1999 and 2014. His usual position was at

fly-half In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards (wearing jerseys numbered 1–8) and seven backs (numbered 9–15). In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players "on the bench", numbered 16– ...

. He has been capped by his country's national side, 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 ...

and was a member of the

2007 Rugby World Cup The 2007 Rugby World Cup was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, which was hosted by France from 7 September to 2 ...

squad that was crowned world champions. He spent the first decade of his career (between 1999 and 2009) in

, where he played

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...

and the (initially known as the ) and domestic South African provincial rugby for the , returning there for another spell in 2011. He also played with the and the and had spells at French clubs

Toulon Toulon (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Tolon , , ) is a city on the French Riviera and a large port on the Mediterranean coast, with a major naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, and the Provence province, Toulon is th ...

and

Carcassonne Carcassonne (, also , , ; ; la, Carcaso) is a French fortified city in the department of Aude, in the region of Occitanie. It is the prefecture of the department. Inhabited since the Neolithic, Carcassonne is located in the plain of the ...

Career

Pretorius made his international debut for the

on 8 June 2002 at fly-half against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

at the

Free State Stadium The Free State Stadium ( af, Vrystaatstadion), currently known as the Toyota Stadium for sponsorship reasons and formerly known as Vodacom Park, is a stadium in Bloemfontein, South Africa, used mainly for rugby union and also sometimes for associa ...

Bloemfontein Bloemfontein, ( ; , "fountain of flowers") also known as Bloem, is one of South Africa's three capital cities and the capital of the Free State (province), Free State province. It serves as the country's judicial capital, along with legisla ...

. The Springboks won 34–19, with Pretorius kicking three conversions and one penalty goal. He played in the subsequent 19–8 victory over the Welsh. He notched up one try, five conversions and three penalty goals in his third match as a Springbok against

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. When kicking at goal, he would usually create his own tee out of dirt, drawing an arrow on the ground towards the goal. After playing in another Test against

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono Island, Manono an ...

, in which he again played a large role with his kicking ability, Pretorius was included in the Springboks 2002 Tri Nations Series squad. He played in three Tri Nations matches, two 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 ...

and one 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 ...

, with South Africa losing all three. He earned a further three caps for the Springboks that year in November against Northern Hemisphere sides, playing matches 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 ...

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 ...

and

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, all of which South Africa lost. He returned to international duties in July 2003 as a reserve in the 52–16 loss against the All Blacks during the

2003 Tri Nations Series The 2003 Tri Nations Series was contested from 12 July to 16 August between the national rugby union teams of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. New Zealand won the tournament for the fifth time. New Zealand regained the Bledisloe Cup whi ...

. He was moved to fullback for the following match against Australia which the Springboks lost 29–9. He next played for the Springboks on 23 July 2005 as fly-half against Australia during the 2005 Tri Nations Series, which the Springboks won 22–16, with Pretorius landing a drop goal. He played at fly-half in the subsequent matches and earned another international cap in November in the 34–23 win over Argentina in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

. After undergoing major surgery, Pretorius turned out for the

Lions The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large cat of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphic; adult ...

in the

2006 Currie Cup The 2006 ABSA Currie Cup season was contested from June through to October. The Currie Cup is an annual domestic competition for rugby union clubs in South Africa. The tournament was controversial before it even began, with the Southern Spears sag ...

season. Putting the surgery setbacks behind him, he guided the Lions to a 74–15 win over the Pumas in round seven. Pretorius himself scored a try, as well as eight conversions and a penalty goal – 24 of the Lions' total 74 points. In 2007, he returned to the national side and became

Jake White Jake White (born 13 December 1963 as ''Jacob Westerduin'') is a professional rugby union coach and former coach of the South African national team – the ''Springboks'' – whom he coached to victory in 2007 Rugby World Cup and the 2004 Tri ...

's 2nd-choice fly-half to

Butch James Andrew David "Butch" James (born 8 January 1979) is a South African former professional rugby union player who represented 40 times and was a member of the team that won the 2007 Rugby World Cup. His usual position was fly-half, though he also p ...

, playing an extensive reserve role in the

, coming on as a replacement in the final which South Africa won 15–6 against England. On 19 June 2009,

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

-based

franchise the

Western Force The Western Force is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Perth, Western Australia, currently competing in Super Rugby Pacific. They previously played in Super Rugby from 2006 until they were axed from the competition in 2017. ...

announced Pretorius as its international marquee-signing for the

2010 Super 14 season The 2010 Super 14 season kicked off in February 2010 with pre-season matches held from mid-January. It finished on 29 May. The 2010 season was the fifth and last season of the expanded Super 14 format. The schedule, which covers 3½ months, fea ...

. However, he failed to appear in any matches for the side and he returned to South Africa to rejoin the . In May 2011, he signed up with French club

, where he made 5 appearances. He returned to South Africa to play for the

Potchefstroom Potchefstroom (, colloquially known as Potch) is an academic city in the North West Province of South Africa. It hosts the Potchefstroom Campus of the North-West University. Potchefstroom is on the Mooi Rivier (Afrikaans for "pretty river" ...

-based at the start of 2012. He had one more spell in France, this time with

for the 2013–14 Rugby Pro D2 season. In 2014, he returned to the Leopards once again, where he made a further 12 appearances in the 2014 Currie Cup qualification series and 2014 Currie Cup First Division before announcing his retirement as a player.

References

External links

*
André Pretorius
on genslin.us {{DEFAULTSORT:Pretorius, Andre 1978 births Living people South African rugby union players South Africa international rugby union players Lions (United Rugby Championship) players Golden Lions players Sharks (Currie Cup) players Rugby union fly-halves Afrikaner people South African people of Dutch descent Leopards (rugby union) players Western Force players South Africa international rugby sevens players US Carcassonne players Rugby union players from Johannesburg