Coert Frederick Cronjé (born 11 May 1988 in

Vereeniging Vereeniging () is a town located in the south of Gauteng province, South Africa, situated where the Klip River empties into the northern loop of the Vaal River. It is also one of the constituent parts of the Vaal Triangle region and was formerly si ...

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 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 for the in the

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 ...

. His regular position is outside centre, but he can also play at inside centre or on the wing.

Career

Youth rugby

He went to Kempton Park secondary school Jeugland Hoërskool and was selected in the ' squad for the 2006 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 ...

competition held in

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 ...

. In 2007, he made the very short journey to

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 ...

to join the academy. He played for the side during the 2007 Under-19 Provincial Championship and for the side during the Under-21 Provincial Championships in 2008 and 2009.

Falcons

In 2010, failing to make the breakthrough to the ' senior side, Cronjé returned to the . His first match for the was in a compulsory friendly match against a Invitational XV in

Nigel Nigel ( ) is an English masculine given name. The English ''Nigel'' is commonly found in records dating from the Middle Ages; however, it was not used much before being revived by 19th-century antiquarians. For instance, Walter Scott published ...

. His first class debut in a competitive match came during the

2010 Currie Cup First Division The 2010 Currie Cup First Division was contested from 16 July through to 15 October 2010. 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 ...

competition when he started in their match against the 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 ...

. His first season proved to be a very memorable one; not only did he start all ten of the matches during the competition, but he also scored nine tries during the competition, to finish as the joint-top try scorer. He also scored two hat-tricks during the competition, the first in his fourth match against the in Kempton Park and the second in their final match of the season against the . With those performances firmly establishing Cronjé as a first-choice player for the Falcons, he quickly racked up appearances and passed the half-century mark 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 ...

season. His try-scoring exploits continued, although not as prolific as his first season. In 2011, he scored eight tries in seventeen appearances and scored three tries in eight starts in 2012. Five tries followed in twenty starts in 2013 and he got two tries during the

2014 Vodacom Cup The 2014 Vodacom Cup was played between 7 March and 16 May 2014 and was the 17th edition of this annual domestic cup competition. This edition of the Vodacom Cup was played between fourteen provincial rugby union teams in South Africa from the Cu ...

competition.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cronje, Coert South African rugby union players Living people 1988 births People from Vereeniging Falcons (rugby union) players Rugby union centres Rugby union wings Rugby union players from Gauteng