Embrose Cheldon Papier (born 25 April 1997) is a South African 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 for the in the

United Rugby Championship 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 ...

and 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 scrum-half.

Rugby career

2010–2015: Schoolboy rugby

Papier was born in Clanwilliam in the

Western Cape The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020 ...

. As early as primary school level, he earned provincial colours by representing the at the 2010 Under-13 Craven Week tournament held 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 ...

. In 2011, he enrolled a
Hoerskool Swartland
which is the Alma mater of current Springbok and 2019 World Rugby player of the Year, Pieter-Steph Du Toit. In 2013, he then moved to

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 ...

, where he enrolled at Hoërskool Garsfontein. In 2013, he represented the Blue Bulls at the Under-16 Grant Khomo Week held in

Vanderbijlpark Vanderbijlpark is an industrial town with approximately 95 000 inhabitants, situated on the Vaal River in the south of Gauteng province, South Africa. The city is named after Hendrik van der Bijl, an electrical engineer and industrialist. Va ...

, starting all three of their matches and scoring a try in their match against Eastern Province. In 2014, despite still being in the Under-17 age bracket, he was included in the Blue Bulls squad for the 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 to ...

, South Africa's premier rugby union tournament at high school level. He started all three matches at the tournament held in

Middelburg Middelburg may refer to: Places and jurisdictions Europe * Middelburg, Zeeland, the capital city of the province of Zeeland, southwestern Netherlands ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Middelburg, a former Catholic diocese with its see in the Zeeland ...

, scoring a try in their 36–15 victory over KwaZulu-Natal. After the tournament, he was included in a South Africa Schools team that hosted the Under-18 International Series against their counterparts from

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Papier played off the bench in their 28–13 victory over France in their opening match, but was promoted to the starting line-up for their second match against Wales, scoring a try in their 40–15 victory. He was again used as a replacement for their final match against England, but could not prevent South Africa suffering a 22–30 defeat. Papier had a similar season in 2015; he started all three of the Blue Bulls' matches at the Craven Week in

Stellenbosch Stellenbosch (; )A Universal Pronounc ...

, scoring a try in their 40–12 victory over his home province Boland. He was once again included in the South Africa Schools squad, this time starting all three of their matches and also being named the vice-captain of the team. He scored a try in their 42–11 victory over Wales, and – after a 12–5 victory over France in their second match – scored another in their 23–16 win over England to avenge their 2014 defeat.

2016–2018: Youth rugby

After high school, Papier joined the ' academy for the 2016 season. Despite not being included in an initial South Africa Under-20 training squad, or a reduced provisional squad named a week later, Papier was included in the final South Africa Under-20 squad for the

2016 World Rugby Under 20 Championship The 2016 World Rugby Under 20 Championship was the ninth annual international rugby union competition for Under 20 national teams. The event was organised in England by rugby's governing body, World Rugby. Twelve nations took part in the tournamen ...

tournament to be held in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

. He started their opening match in Pool C of the tournament on the bench, appearing for the final eight minutes as South Africa came from behind to beat Japan 59–19. He did not feature in their second pool match, a 13–19 defeat to

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

, but started their final match, scoring South Africa's first try in the match as they bounced back to secure a 40-31 bonus-point victory over

. The result meant South Africa secured a semi-final place as the best runner-up in the competition, but Papier suffered an ankle injury during a training session, which ended his involvement in the tournament. South Africa faced three-time champions

in their semi-final match, but the hosts proved too strong for them, knocking them out of the competition with a 39–17 victory, and they also lost the third-place play-off match against Argentina, as the South American side beat South Africa for the second time in the tournament, convincingly winning 49–19 to condemn South Africa to fourth place in the competition. Papier recovered from his injury towards the end of the 2016 Under-19 Provincial Championship, starting the ' final two matches of the regular season. He scored a try in the first of those, a 62–7 victory over , before he helped the Blue Bulls secure second place on the log with a 50–30 victory over . He also started their semi-final match against , but a 34–24 victory for the team from

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 ...

ended the Blue Bulls' participation in the competition. In November 2016, Papier was named in the Super Rugby team's extended training squad during the team's preparations for the

2017 Super Rugby season The 2017 Super Rugby season was the 22nd season of Super Rugby, an annual rugby union competition organised by SANZAAR between teams from Argentina, Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Africa. It was the second season featuring an expa ...

2019-2020: Sale Sharks

In September 2019, Papier joined Premiership rugby union side on a three-month loan deal as

Rugby World Cup The Rugby World Cup is a men's rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams. The tournament is administered by World Rugby, the sport's international governing body. The winners are awarded the Webb E ...

cover for compatriot Faf de Klerk.

Honours

* Super Rugby Unlocked winner

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

* Currie Cup winner

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

* United Rugby Championship runner-up 2021-22 * Vodacom Bulls Currie Cup Player of the Year

2023 Events Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 ** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1927 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law. ** Croatia will adopt the eu ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Papier, Embrose South African rugby union players Living people 1997 births People from Cederberg Local Municipality Rugby union scrum-halves South Africa Under-20 international rugby union players South Africa international rugby union players Bulls (rugby union) players Blue Bulls players Sale Sharks players Rugby union players from the Western Cape