Carl Bezuidenhout (born 10 February 1986 in Grahamstown) 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 ...

footballer. He played either as a

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– ...

or full-back and played professional rugby between 2006 and 2015. He retired in 2015 to take up a teaching post at Union Schools in

Graaff-Reinet Graaff-Reinet is a town in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. It is the oldest town in the province. It is also the sixth-oldest town in South Africa, after Cape Town, Stellenbosch, Simon's Town, Paarl and Swellendam. The town was the c ...

Career

Bezuidenhout started his career in

Durban Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...

, where he represented the between 2006 and 2009. After a short spell with the in 2009, he joined the , where he played the majority of the rugby during his career. During the

2013 Currie Cup First Division The 2013 Currie Cup First Division was contested from 29 June to 11 October 2013. The tournament (also known as the Absa Currie Cup First Division for sponsorship reasons) is the second tier of South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competiti ...

, he broke the all-time points scoring record of that competition, ending the season with 217 points to help the to the title. He also scored eight points in the first leg of their promotion play-off match to help the Pumas to win promotion to the

2014 Currie Cup Premier Division The 2014 Currie Cup Premier Division was the 76th season in the competition since it started in 1889 and was contested from 9 August to 25 October 2014. The tournament (known as the Absa Currie Cup Premier Division for sponsorship reasons) is the ...

. In 2014, he joined Scottish

Pro12 The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. The current name was adopted in 2021 when the league expanded to include four South Afr ...

side

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

on an extended trial until the end of the 2013–14 season. His first appearance came as a half-time substitute during the

Heineken Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Heineken Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...

victory over

USA Perpignan Union Sportive Arlequins Perpignanais, also referred to as USA Perpignan or Perpignan, is a French professional rugby union club founded in 1933 and based in Perpignan, in the Pyrénées-Orientales department. They compete in the Top 14, Franc ...

on 11 January 2014. He was unable to clinch a regular place in the Edinburgh XV, however, and in the season 2014–2015 professional players draft, he was assigned to Boroughmuir RFC and played mainly for that club in the BT Premiership, the highest level of amateur club rugby in Scotland. He signed off from Scottish rugby when he scored 16 points in helping Boroughmuir to win the Scottish Cup, beating Hawick 55-17 in the final, at

Murrayfield Stadium Murrayfield Stadium (known as BT Murrayfield Stadium for sponsorship reasons, or popularly as Murrayfield) is a Rugby stadium located in the Murrayfield area of Edinburgh, Scotland. It has a seating capacity of 67,144 making it the largest sta ...

, on Saturday, 18 April 2015.

Representative rugby

Bezuidenhout was included in the

South Africa Sevens The South Africa Sevens is an annual rugby sevens tournament that is held in South Africa. It is currently hosted in Cape Town and is part of the Sevens World Series run by World Rugby. A South African leg of the World series has been include ...

team for the

2007 Wellington Sevens The Wellington Sevens, also known as the New Zealand Sevens or for sponsorship reasons the NZI Sevens, is played annually as part of the IRB Sevens World Series for international rugby sevens (seven-a-side version of rugby union). The 2007 competit ...

and

2007 USA Sevens The 2007 USA Sevens was a rugby sevens tournament held on February 10 and February 11, 2007 in the United States at 44,500 capacity Petco Park in San Diego, California. The USA Sevens is part of the IRB Sevens World Series. Although the 2006–0 ...

competitions during the

2006–07 IRB Sevens World Series 2006–07 IRB Sevens World Series was the eighth of an annual series of rugby sevens tournaments for full national sides run by the International Rugby Board since 1999–2000. New Zealand were the series champions, winning the final tournament ...

. In 2013, he was included in a South Africa President's XV team that played in the 2013 IRB Tbilisi Cup and won the tournament after winning all three matches. He top scored for the South Africa President's XV team with 25 points.

External links

*
itsrugby.co.uk profile

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bezuidenhout, Carl Living people 1986 births Sportspeople from Makhanda, Eastern Cape South African rugby union players Rugby union fullbacks Pumas (Currie Cup) players Sharks (Currie Cup) players Eastern Province Elephants players Edinburgh Rugby players Rugby union players from the Eastern Cape