Felix du Plessis (24 November 1919 – 1 May 1978) was 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 ...

footballer and captain of the

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 ...

(Springbok) team that in 1949 beat the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987 ...

thrice in succession, a feat that was not repeated by a South African side until 2009. Du Plessis's son, Morné, also captained the Springboks, the only father-son duo to have done so.

Early life and career

Du Plessis was born on 24 November 1919 in Steynsburg, in the

Eastern Cape The Eastern Cape is one of the provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, but its two largest cities are East London and Gqeberha. The second largest province in the country (at 168,966 km2) after Northern Cape, it was formed in ...

. He was the nephew of Nic du Plessis, a Springbok who toured to New Zealand in 1921 and gained 5 caps over a three-year career. As a 19-year-old Felix Du Plessis was selected for the first

Northern Transvaal Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a r ...

team ever, when that union was formed in 1938. His teammate and captain was

Danie Craven Daniël Hartman Craven (11 October 1910 – 4 January 1993) was a South African rugby union player (1931–1938), national coach, national and international rugby administrator, academic, and author. Popularly known as Danie, Doc, or Mr R ...

. He enlisted voluntarily during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

International career

Felix made his debut on 16 July 1949 for South Africa as a

lock Lock(s) may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainment * ''Lock ...

in the first test match 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 ho ...

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 ...

against the touring All Blacks, led by

Fred Allen John Florence Sullivan (May 31, 1894 – March 17, 1956), known professionally as Fred Allen, was an American comedian. His absurdist, topically pointed radio program ''The Fred Allen Show'' (1932–1949) made him one of the most popular and for ...

. He was the first ever Wanderers player to become Springbok captain. Supported by vice-captain

Cecil Moss Cecil Moss (12 February 1925 – 27 October 2017) was a South African rugby union player, coach and a professional physician. He was also a qualified medical doctor (anaesthetist) and was part of the medical team who removed the heart from the f ...

, Du Plessis' team – which included Springbok greats Tjol Lategan,

Hannes Brewis Johannes Daniel "Hannes" Brewis (15 June 1920 – 9 September 2007) was a South African rugby union player. He was capped for South Africa ten times, and was selected to play for the Springboks on the 1951–52 South Africa rugby tour of Great ...

, Okey Geffin, and

Hennie Muller Hendrik "Hennie" Scholtz Vosloo Muller (26 March 1922 – 26 April 1977) was a South African rugby union footballer. Born in Witbank, Muller is considered one of the greatest South African rugby players, captaining the national side, the Springbo ...

– swept the series 3 – 0. Six weeks after the last test, Morné was born. Despite his three successive test victories as captain, Du Plessis was left out of the team that faced the All Blacks in the 4th test at

Port Elizabeth Gqeberha (), formerly Port Elizabeth and colloquially often referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, Sou ...

. He was replaced by Basil Kenyon, possibly because the player-coach's

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team had emerged unbeaten from two encounters with the New Zealanders, with a 9–0 win and a 6–6 draw. Unlike Du Plessis, Kenyon would only receive this one cap.

International caps

Personal life

Du Plessis married Pat Smethurst, who in 1954 captained the South African women's

hockey Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...

team. Their son Morné is the only Springbok captain born to parents who both captained national sports sides. The Du Plessis couple supported the more liberal opposition United Party instead of the National Party, which had come to power in 1948 and would enforce

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

for the next 42 years. Felix worked as a representative for

South African Breweries South African Breweries (officially The South African Breweries Limited, informally SAB) is a major brewery headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa and was a wholly owned subsidiary of SABMiller until its interests were sold to Anheuser-Bus ...

, then relocated to

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 ...

to manage Iscor's sport and recreation department. He moved to Stilfontein, where he opened a liquor store, one of the first shops in town. Morné recalls his father as a gentle and retiring person, who only started watching his son play rugby once he was at Stellenbosch. Du Plessis died at Stilfontein in 1978 at the age of 58, having played only in the three tests against New Zealand.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Du Plessis, Felix 1919 births 1978 deaths People from Walter Sisulu Local Municipality Rugby union locks South Africa national rugby union team captains South Africa international rugby union players South African rugby union players South African military personnel of World War II Rugby union players from the Eastern Cape Blue Bulls players

Early life and career

International career

International caps

Personal life

See also

References