Frederik Johannes Zeilinga (born 11 December 1992) 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

Canon Eagles The Yokohama Canon Eagles is a Japanese rugby union team founded in 1981 that competes in the Japan Rugby League One and is owned by Canon. The team was previously based in Machida, Tokyo, Japan. According to the official website, it was founde ...

in the

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese

Top League Japan Rugby League One (formerly the Top League) is a rugby union competition in Japan. It is the highest level of professional rugby competition in the country. The Japan Rugby Football Union created the competition in 2003, by absorbing the ...

. His regular position is

fly-half In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards (wearing jerseys numbered 1–8) and seven backs (numbered 9–15). In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players "on the bench", numbered 16– ...

Career

Youth

Zeilinga represented the at Under-13, Under-16, Under-18, Under-19 and Under-21 levels between 2005 and 2012.

Sharks

In 2011, he made his first class debut for them in the

Vodacom Cup The Vodacom Cup was an annual rugby union competition in South Africa. Annual Vodacom Cup competitions were played between its inaugural season in 1998 and 2015 and was contested between February and May each year. The Vodacom Cup was the succes ...

competition in the season-opening game against the . He missed a conversion two minutes after coming on, but did convert one ten minutes later to help his team to a 30–19 victory. He made three more substitute appearances during 2011 and was promoted to first choice fly-half for the Sharks during the 2012 Vodacom Cup competition, making a further seven starts. He also finished as top scorer in the

2012 Under-21 Provincial Championship The 2012 ABSA Under-21 Provincial Championship will be contested from 13 July to 27 October 2012. The tournament will feature the Under-21 players from the fourteen provincial rugby unions in South Africa. Competition Division A There are seven p ...

, scoring 154 points in his ten appearances. He also took over the kicking duties during the

2013 Vodacom Cup The 2013 Vodacom Cup was played between 9 March and 18 May 2013 and was the 16th edition of this annual domestic cup competition. The Vodacom Cup is played between provincial rugby union teams in South Africa from the Currie Cup Premier and First ...

competition, where he once again scored in excess of 100 points in the season.

Sharks

He was included in the squad for their final match of the

2013 Super Rugby season The 2013 Super Rugby season was the third season of the new 15-team format for the Super Rugby competition involving teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The tournament was won by the Chiefs, who defeated the Canberra-based Brumb ...

against the . He did appear as a substitute to make his

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...

debut and also scored a try in a 58–13 victory.

Cheetahs

In May 2015, Zeilinga signed a contract to join

Bloemfontein Bloemfontein, ( ; , "fountain of flowers") also known as Bloem, is one of South Africa's three capital cities and the capital of the Free State (province), Free State province. It serves as the country's judicial capital, along with legisla ...

-based outfit the .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zeilinga, Fred South African rugby union players Living people 1992 births People from Ladysmith, KwaZulu-Natal Sharks (Currie Cup) players Sharks (rugby union) players Rugby union fly-halves Afrikaner people Free State Cheetahs players Cheetahs (rugby union) players Yokohama Canon Eagles players Lions (United Rugby Championship) players Golden Lions players Rugby union players from KwaZulu-Natal