Jan Christian Stewart (born October 17, 1965) 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 it ...

centre, who played internationally for

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

and the South Africa Springboks. Stewart earned 17 caps, 14 with Canada and three with South Africa.

Career

Stewart matriculated at

Woodridge College Woodridge College is a private, co-educational school in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Woodridge is situated near the small town of Thornhill, Kouga, halfway between Jeffrey's Bay and Port Elizabeth. The school is attended by both boarders ...

in the Eastern Cape and in 1987 he enrolled at the University of Stellenbosch. He made his senior provincial debut for in 1987 as a fullback and in 1988 he was selected at

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics * Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentri ...

for Western Province, forming a very successful partnership with Faffa Knoetze. In 1989 he joined Villagers, within the Western Province club system. At the end of his career with Western Province in 1998, he played 136 games for the province and scored 31 tries. Having dual nationality, Stewart represented Canada in two rugby world cups in

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phi ...

and in

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

when he was not eligible for selection for the Springboks of South Africa. He played four world cup matches in 1991 and three in 1995. In 1998 when Christian was finally available to represent the Springboks of South Africa he was selected and played 3 test matches. Unfortunately, in his 3rd and final test (the now famous test where South Africa needed to beat England at Twickenham to break the New Zealand All Blacks world record of 17 consecutive wins), he suffered a serious neck injury which ended his rugby playing career at the age of 33. After the

1995 Rugby World Cup The 1995 Rugby World Cup was the third Rugby World Cup. It was hosted and won by South Africa, and was the first Rugby World Cup in which every match was held in one country. The World Cup was the first major sporting event to take place in Sou ...

, Christian Stewart was named in the all time Dream Team chosen by the rugby press. Stewart also played for the Stormers in South Africa, Rovigo in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

and

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 11 ...

for the

Sydney Bulldogs The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Belmore, a suburb in the Canterbury-Bankstown region of Sydney. They compete in the NRL Telstra Premiership, as well as competitions facilit ...

in Australia.

Test history

Accolades

In 1988, Stewart was one of the five SA Young Players of the Year, along with Kobus Burger, Jacques du Plessis, Andre Joubert and JJ van der Walt.

References

1966 births Living people Canadian expatriates in South Africa Canadian rugby union players Canadian people of British descent Canadian people of Afrikaner descent Alumni of Diocesan College, Cape Town Rugby union players from Toronto Canadian people of South African descent South African rugby union players South Africa international rugby union players South African people of Canadian descent Canada international rugby union players Western Province (rugby union) players Stormers players Villager FC players Rugby union centres 1991 Rugby World Cup players 1995 Rugby World Cup players {{SouthAfrica-rugbyunion-bio-stub

Career

Test history

Accolades

See also

References