Danie Poolman (born 10 March 1989) is a South African former 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 it ...

player. He played for Irish provincial side Connacht Rugby in the

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 ...

until 2017 followed by a spell playing amateur rugby in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

with

Bective Rangers Bective Rangers Football Club is a rugby union club in Dublin, Ireland founded in 1881. The Club is affiliated to the Leinster Branch of the Irish Rugby Football Union and play in Division 1A of the Leinster League. The club plays its games a ...

in the

Leinster League The Leinster League is the second tier of rugby in Leinster, behind the Leinster Senior League. It has five divisions. The champions qualify for a round-robin tournament with the champions of the other three provincial junior leagues for one of tw ...

. He primarily plays on the

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is e ...

or in the centre. Born in

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

, he formerly played for

Western Province Western Province or West Province may refer to: * Western Province, Cameroon *Western Province, Rwanda *Western Province (Kenya) *Western Province (Papua New Guinea) *Western Province (Solomon Islands) *Western Province, Sri Lanka *Western Provin ...

in South Africa's

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 ...

, and Super Rugby side the Stormers. Qualified to play for Ireland by residence since 2015, Poolman indicated his intention to do so.

Career

Youth and Varsity rugby

Poolman played schoolboy rugby for

Paul Roos Gymnasium Paul Roos Gymnasium is a public, dual medium (Afrikaans & English) high school for boys in the town of Stellenbosch, Western Cape, South Africa, and opened on the 1st of March 1866 as Stellenbosch Gymnasium. It is the 12th oldest school in the c ...

and was included in the Under-18 side at the 2007

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 to ...

tournament. Western Province progressed to the unofficial final match against the , but lost the match 52–3. He played for the side in 2008 and for their Under-21 sides in 2009 and 2010. He finished as the top try scorer in the 2010 Under-21 Provincial Championship competition, scoring 17 tries in just 14 appearances. He also played

Varsity Cup Varsity Cup is the collective name for four South African rugby union competitions involving the top rugby playing universities in the country. It was launched in 2008, with eight teams participating in the Varsity Cup competition and each univers ...

rugby for in the

2010 Varsity Cup The 2010 Varsity Cup was contested from 1 February to 29 March 2010. The tournament (also known as the ''FNB Varsity Cup presented by Steinhoff International'' for sponsorship reasons) was the third season of the Varsity Cup, an annual inter-univer ...

competition. He started in all nine of Maties' matches in the competition and scored six tries, including a try early in the second half of the final, helping Maties beat local rivals 17–14 to clinch the Varsity Cup for a third consecutive season.

Western Province and Stormers

Poolman was then included in the side for the

2010 Vodacom Cup The 2010 Vodacom Cup was contested from 26 February to 7 May. The 2010 Vodacom Cup is the 13th edition of this annual domestic cup competition. The Vodacom Cup is played between provincial rugby union teams in South Africa from the Currie Cup Pre ...

competition. He made his first class debut for them by coming on as a substitute in their match against on 10 April 2010. His first start came in the

Quarter-final A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

match against the . Despite not playing any

rugby for , Poolman was included in the squad prior to 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 ...

and made his Super Rugby debut by starting the Stormers' opening match of the season against the at

Newlands Stadium The Newlands Stadium, referred to as DHL Newlands for sponsorship reasons, is located in Cape Town, South Africa. The stadium has a capacity of 51,900 people, but is not an all-seater venue. Various sports teams use the stadium as their hom ...

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

. He made eight appearances in that competition, scoring his first senior try in the return leg against the in

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 Dem ...

in a 33–19 win. He eventually made his

debut during the

2011 Currie Cup Eleven or 11 may refer to: *11 (number), the natural number following 10 and preceding 12 * one of the years 11 BC, AD 11, 1911, 2011, or any year ending in 11 Literature * ''Eleven'' (novel), a 2006 novel by British author David Llewellyn *'' ...

season in Western Province's match against and made 13 appearances in the competition, scoring 4 tries. He made just two appearances for the Stormers in the

2012 Super Rugby season The 2012 Super Rugby season was the second season of the current 15-team format for the Super Rugby competition, which involves teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. For sponsorship reasons, this competition is known as FxPro Super R ...

, with

Gio Aplon Gio Giaan Aplon (born 6 October 1982) is a South African rugby union player for Toyota Verblitz in the Top League in Japan. He scored two tries in a 42–17 triumph against the Six Nations Tournament, Six Nations winner – France. The match wa ...

and

Gerhard van den Heever Gerhard Jacobus van den Heever (born 13 April 1989) is a South African-born Japanese rugby union player for the in Super Rugby and Kubota Spears in the Top League. His regular playing position is as a wing. Education Van den Heever attended ...

being preferred to him in the starting line-up. Instead, he dropped down to the Western Province side for the

2012 Vodacom Cup The 2012 Vodacom Cup was played between 10 March and 18 May 2012 and was the 15th edition of this annual domestic cup competition. The Vodacom Cup is played between rugby union teams in South Africa from the Currie Cup Premier and First Divisions, ...

competition, scoring two tries in eight starts.

Connacht

In June 2012, it was announced that he had been released from his Western Province contract to join Irish team

Connacht Connacht ( ; ga, Connachta or ), is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms ( Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, Conmhaícne, and Del ...

ahead of the 2012–2013 season, signing on a three-year deal. Poolman made his debut for Connacht in the

2012–13 Pro12 The 2012–13 Pro12 League (also known as the ''RaboDirect Pro12'' for sponsorship reasons) was the 12th season of the rugby union competition originally known as the Celtic League, the third with its current 12-team format, and the second with Ra ...

as a replacement against the Ospreys on 27 October 2012. He made his first start in the team's next Pro12 game, against Benetton Treviso on November, and also scored his first try for the side. Poolman made his European debut for Connacht on 7 December 2012 against Biarritz in the 2012–13 Heineken Cup. He played in three of the team's Heineken Cup matches in his debut season, and made 16 Pro12 appearances, scoring 5 tries. He left Connacht at the end of the 2016-17 season

External links

Connacht profile
*

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Poolman, Danie Living people 1989 births Afrikaner people Buccaneers RFC players Connacht Rugby players Expatriate rugby union players in Ireland Rugby union wings South African expatriate sportspeople in Ireland South African expatriate rugby union players South African rugby union players Rugby union players from Pretoria Stormers players Western Province (rugby union) players