Branco Bewinn Nazeem du Preez (born 8 May 1990) is a former South African

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 with the

South Africa national rugby sevens team The South African national rugby sevens team competes in the World Rugby Sevens Series, the Rugby World Cup Sevens, the Summer Olympic Games and the Commonwealth Games. Overall, the team has won the World Rugby Sevens Series 4 times, as well as h ...

. He is a utility back, but usually plays as a scrum-half for the Blitzbokke. Du Preez retired as the most capped South African Rugby Sevens player.

Career

Youth

Du Preez was born in

George George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presiden ...

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 ...

. He played high school rugby for PW Botha College in George, which earned him a call-up to the South Western Districts side that played at the Under-16 Grant Khomo Week tournament in 2006. He then joined the Harmony Sports Academy in

Welkom Welkom () is the second-largest city in the Free State province of South Africa, located about northeast of Bloemfontein which is the provincial capital. Welkom is also known as Circle City, City Within A Garden, Mvela and Matjhabeng. The cit ...

, which made him eligible to represent the . He represented them at the premier high school tournament in South Africa, the Under-18

Craven Week The Craven Week is an annual rugby union tournament organised for schoolboys in the Republic of South Africa. The tournament started in July 1964, and is named after the legendary Springbok rugby union player and coach Dr Danie Craven. The tou ...

, in both 2007 and 2008. He also represented the side in the 2007 and 2008 Under-19 Provincial Championships. When he finished schooling, he moved to

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends ...

before the 2009 season. He made three appearances for the in the 2009 Varsity Cup competition and also represented the in the 2009 Under-19 Provincial Championship. He was also selected in the South African Under-20 squad that played at the

2010 IRB Junior World Championship The 2010 IRB Junior World Championship was the third annual international rugby union competition for Under 20 national teams, this competition replaced the now defunct under 19 and under 21 world championships. The event was organised by rugby's ...

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 ...

. He came on as a substitute in their first match against

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

in a 40–14 win, started their second match against

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 ...

at outside centre, helping them to a 73–0 win and once again appeared as a substitute in their final pool match, a 35–42 defeat to

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 ...

. The team qualified for the semi-finals of the competition, but were soundly beaten by

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, losing 7–36 despite Du Preez scoring a try for the Baby Boks just before half-time. He was an unused replacement for their third-place play-off match 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 ...

, which South Africa won 27–22. He returned to domestic action for the during the 2010 Under-21 Provincial Championship, making four appearances.

South African Sevens

At the start of 2010, Du Preez became involved with the South African Sevens team. He made his debut for them at the 2010 Wellington Sevens leg of the

2009–10 IRB Sevens World Series The 2009–10 IRB Sevens World Series was the eleventh of an annual series of rugby union sevens tournaments for full national sides run by the International Rugby Board since 1999–2000. Samoa won the IRB Sevens World Series crown for their fir ...

. He also appeared at the events in the

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

and

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

before playing in the

. Over the next few years, he became a regular on the

Sevens World Series The World Rugby Men's Sevens Series is an annual series of international rugby sevens tournaments run by World Rugby featuring national sevens teams. Organised for the first time in the 1999–2000 season as the IRB World Sevens Series, the com ...

circuit. He took part in eight events in both the 2010–11 and 2011–12 seasons. His 2012–13 was curtailed through injury, playing in just four events, but he did return to play in the

2013 Rugby World Cup Sevens The 2013 Rugby World Cup Sevens was the sixth edition of the Rugby World Cup Sevens. The tournament was held at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, Russia. New Zealand won the tournament, defeating England 33–0 in the final. Attendance for the tourname ...

, where the Blitzbokke lost in the Quarter Finals of the competition to

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

. He played in eight legs of the 2013–14 IRB Sevens World Series and was then included in the squad that played at the

2014 Commonwealth Games The 2014 Commonwealth Games ( gd, Geamannan a' Cho-fhlaitheis 2014), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014, ( sco, Glesca 2014 or Glesga 2014; gd, Glaschu 2014), was an international multi-sport ev ...

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

. He helped his side all the way to the final, where they got a 17–12 victory over a

that won the previous four tournaments.

Premier Rugby Sevens

In 2023, Du Preez took part in the third season of Premier Rugby Sevens in the United States as a member of the Rhinos x SoCal Loggerheads men's team. He was awarded finals MVP in the

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

tournament at

Audi Field Audi Field is a soccer-specific stadium in Buzzard Point in Washington, D.C. It is the home stadium for both of Washington, DC’s professional soccer teams, D.C. United in Major League Soccer and Washington Spirit in the National Women’s So ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Du Preez, Branco South African rugby union players Living people 1990 births Rugby union players from George, South Africa Rugby union scrum-halves Rugby union fly-halves Rugby union centres Rugby union wings Rugby union fullbacks South Africa international rugby sevens players South Africa Under-20 international rugby union players Rugby sevens players at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Rugby sevens players at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games gold medallists for South Africa Commonwealth Games rugby sevens players for South Africa Tshwane University of Technology alumni Commonwealth Games medallists in rugby sevens Rugby sevens players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic rugby sevens players for South Africa Golden Lions players Medallists at the 2014 Commonwealth Games