Bjorn Alberic Basson (born 11 February 1987) is a South African professional

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 playing as a wing or full-back for the

San Diego Legion The San Diego Legion is an American professional rugby union team based in San Diego, California. The team was founded in 2017 and competes in Major League Rugby. Home field The team plays at Snapdragon Stadium, which is located on the campus o ...

of Major League Rugby (MLR). He previously played for Enisei-STM in the

European Rugby Challenge Cup The EPCR Challenge Cup is an annual rugby union competition organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the second-tier competition for clubs based in European leagues behind the European Rugby Champions Cup. From its inception ...

Professional career

Griquas and Cheetahs

After playing for the side in 2005 and 2006, he then moved to Kimberley to join . He made his debut in the

2008 Vodacom Cup The 2008 Vodacom Cup was played between 22 February and 16 May 2008 and was the 11th edition of this annual domestic cup competition. This edition of the Vodacom Cup was played between the fourteen provincial rugby union teams in South Africa fro ...

competition, starting the match against former side in East London and scoring a try to help Griquas to a 15–5 win. He played in eight matches, scoring five tries. His first-ever

Currie Cup The Currie Cup is South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competition, played each winter and spring (June to October), featuring teams representing either entire provinces or substantial regions within provinces. Although it is the premier ...

season in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

saw him score a further six tries in eleven matches. As a Griquas player, he could also play

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 ...

for the . He was included in the in the 2009 Super 14 season, scoring one try in five appearances. He also scored one try in his three appearances for in the 2009 Vodacom Cup. He started twelve matches for in the 2009 Currie Cup Premier Division, as well as one substitute appearance and scored six tries to once again feature in the top ten try scorers list. 2010 was Basson's most prolific season of all. He scored five tries in just four starts for the in the 2010 Super 14 season, six tries in his seven matches in the 2010 Vodacom Cup for , finishing joint third overall try scorer in the competition. and two tries in a compulsory friendly match against prior to the 2010 Currie Cup Premier Division season He then broke the record for the most number of tries scored in a single

season, scoring no less than 21 for Griquas in the 2010 Currie Cup Premier Division.

Bulls

Basson signed a two-year contract with the Blue Bulls Company on 19 September 2010. He later extended his contract, signing on until October 2016. In 2011, Basson was the joint top try scorer in the

2011 Super Rugby season The 2011 Super Rugby season was the first season of the new 15-team format for the Super Rugby competition, which involved teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Including its past iterations as Super 12 and Super 14, this was the 16t ...

with eleven tries for the , along with

Sean Maitland Sean Daniel Maitland (born 14 September 1988) is a New Zealand-born Scottish rugby union player. He plays for Saracens in the RFU Premiership. He previously played for London Irish and before that for Glasgow Warriors in the PRO12, Crusaders i ...

and

Sarel Pretorius Sarel Johannes Pretorius (born 18 April 1984) is a South African rugby player who plays at scrum half for the in the Pro14. During 2007–2011 he played in the Currie Cup for Griquas and made his Super Rugby debut for the in 2009 against th ...

Stormers

Oyonnax

Basson joined French

Top 14 The Top 14 () is a professional rugby union club competition that is played in France. Created in 1892, the Top 14 is at the top of the national league system operated by the French National Rugby League, also known by its French initialism o ...

side in December 2017, signing as a medical joker for the injured

Matt Hopper Matt Hopper (born 29 January 1985) is a rugby union player for Harlequins in the Aviva Premiership. He primarily plays as a Centre but can also cover Fullback. Hopper started playing mini rugby at age 10 and continued through school and in t ...

Southern Kings

Basson returned to South Africa in 2018 to join the ahead of the

2018–19 Pro14 The 2018–19 Pro14 (also known as the '' Guinness Pro14'' for sponsorship reasons) is the eighteenth season of the professional rugby union competition originally known as the Celtic League. It was the second season to be referred to as the ''Pr ...

National team

Emerging Springboks

In 2008, Basson was chosen to represent the

Emerging Springboks South Africa 'A', also formerly known as the Junior Springboks or the Emerging Springboks, are the second national rugby union team representing South Africa, below the senior national team, the Springboks. Until 2018, it was also under the Sou ...

team, which went on to win the

2008 IRB Nations Cup The 2008 IRB Nations Cup was the third edition of the international rugby union tournament, a competition created by the International Rugby Board. It pits the "A" Teams of the stronger (Tier 1) rugby nations (Emerging Springboks and Italy A) aga ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

. During the

2009 British & Irish Lions tour to South Africa The 2009 British & Irish Lions tour to South Africa was an international rugby union tour which took place in South Africa from May to July 2009. The British & Irish Lions played a three-match Test series against South Africa, with matches in ...

, he twice played against 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 ...

; once for the Royal XV and again for the

South African national team

Basson was selected for 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 ...

tour of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

and

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

in 2010. He made his test debut on 5 June 2010 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 ...

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

. On 15 November 2010 he and Chiliboy Ralepelle were suspended and sent home from the Northern Hemisphere tour after testing positive for a banned substance after the game against Ireland on 6 November 2010. Both players tested positive for methylhexaneamine, a "non-specified stimulant" on the prohibited substances list of WADA. Basson played in two tests during the 2012 mid-year series for the Springboks: their 36–27 win over England and their 14–14 draw with England.

Honours

* 2010 – Award: Absa Currie Cup Premier Division Player of the Year

References

External links

*
From thebulls.co.za

From sabcnews.co.za

{{DEFAULTSORT:Basson, Bjorn Living people 1987 births South African rugby union players South Africa international rugby union players Sportspeople from Qonce Bulls (rugby union) players Blue Bulls players Cheetahs (rugby union) players Griquas (rugby union) players Rugby union wings Mie Honda Heat players South African expatriate rugby union players South African expatriate sportspeople in Japan Expatriate rugby union players in Japan Southern Kings players Stormers players Western Province (rugby union) players Oyonnax Rugby players Yenisey-STM Krasnoyarsk players San Diego Legion players Rugby union players from the Eastern Cape