Dylan John Pieterse (born 28 January 1995) 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 lock or flanker.

Early life

Pieterse was born in Kempton Park and attended King Edward VII School 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 Demo ...

. In 2011, he was selected to represent the at the Under-16 Grant Khomo Week tournament held in Queenstown, where he made two appearances. He played first team rugby for KES in 2012 and 2013, but did not earn any further provincial callups.

2014–2015 : Pumas / Witbank Ferros

Pieterse spent some time training at the Blue Bulls academy, before joining the

Nelspruit Mbombela (also known as Nelspruit) is a city in northeastern South Africa. It is the capital of the Mpumalanga province. Located on the Crocodile River (Mpumalanga), Crocodile River, Mbombela lies about by road west of the Mozambique border, ea ...

-based for the

2014 Under-19 Provincial Championship The 2014 ABSA Under-19 Provincial Championship was a rugby union competition held between the Under-19 players from the fourteen provincial rugby unions in South Africa, plus the sub-union. It was contested from 11 July to 25 October 2014. Grou ...

. He made seven appearances for the team in

Group B Group B was a set of regulations for grand touring (GT) vehicles used in sports car racing and rallying introduced in 1982 by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). Although permitted to enter a GT class of the World Sportscar ...

of the competition, scoring seven tries, the most by a Pumas player in the competition. He scored two tries in his first match, a 40–27 victory over and a hat-trick of tries in their Round Five match against in a 60–29 victory. Further tries against and followed as he helped the Pumas to finish in fourth spot on the log. The Pumas lost to the in Pieterse's home town of Kempton Park in the final, but he received a personal accolade after the season by being voted the Pumas' Under-19 player of the Year. At the start of 2015, Pieterse played amateur club rugby, making four appearances for the Witbank Ferros during the

Community Cup The Community Cup (known as the Reclink Community Cup since 2009 under naming rights) is an annual charity event which features a celebrity mixed-gender Australian rules football match. It is noted for its cult following, celebrity appearan ...

competition. The team failed to qualify from

Pool D Pool may refer to: Water pool * Swimming pool, usually an artificial structure containing a large body of water intended for swimming * Reflecting pool, a shallow pool designed to reflect a structure and its surroundings * Tide pool, a rocky pool ...

, winning just one of their four matches. He rejoined the Pumas in the second half of the year, starting five matches for the side during the Under-21 Provincial Championship. He weighed in with two tries – in victories over and – to help the Pumas win all seven of their matches in the regular season to top the log. The team did not take part in the title play-offs, however, since they were deducted all their log points after fielding ineligible players during the competition.

2016: Western Force / Cottesloe

Pieterse moved 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 ...

to join the

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

-based

Western Force The Western Force is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Perth, Western Australia, currently competing in Super Rugby Pacific. They previously played in Super Rugby from 2006 until they were axed from the competition in 2017. ...

's Future Force program, also playing club rugby for Cottesloe in the Premier Grade, the premier league in

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. He made sixteen appearances in the competitions, and scored four tries – a brace against Wanneroo was followed by one try against Associates in his next match and another against

UWA The University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Perth, the state capital, with a secondary campus in Albany, Western Australia, Albany an ...

later in the competition. He helped the team reach the semi-finals of the competition, where they lost to Wests Scarborough.

2016: Eastern Province Kings

He returned to

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 ...

to join the prior to the

2016 Currie Cup The 2016 Currie Cup Premier Division was the top tier of the second stage of the 2016 Currie Cup, the 78th edition of this annual South African rugby union competition organised by the South African Rugby Union. It was played between 5 August and ...

. He came on as a replacement in their third match of the competition, a 6–36 defeat to , before being promoted to the starting lineup in their midweek match against . He also started matches against the , and former team the , but could not help his team achieve a victory in the competition, losing all eight of their matches to finish bottom of the log.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pieterse, Dylan 1995 births Living people Austin Gilgronis players Eastern Province Elephants players Expatriate rugby union players in the United States People from Kempton Park, Gauteng Rugby union locks Rugby union flankers South African expatriate rugby union players South African expatriate sportspeople in the United States Rugby union players from Gauteng