Garrick Frederick Mattheus (born 23 March 1996) 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 it ...

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 ...

and the Rugby Challenge. His regular position is fly-half, but he can also play as a fullback. In 2020 passed at Rugby club Valpolicella.

Rugby career

Youth rugby

Mattheus was born in Port Elizabeth, where he attended

Grey High School Grey High School is a semi-private English speaking high school (grades 8 - 12) for boys situated in the suburb of Mill Park in Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is one of the top sporting schools in the country, ...

. In 2014, he was selected to represent Eastern Province at the Under-18 Academy Week held in

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engla ...

. His best performance of the tournament came in his first match, as he kicked three penalties and five conversions for a personal points haul of 19 points in their 49–31 victory over the Pumas. Later in the same year, Mattheus was also drafted into the squad that competed for their 2014 Under-19 Provincial Championship campaign. He played off the bench in a 17–13 victory over , before starting four of their final five matches of the competition, contributing 18 points with the boot. He joined the Eastern Province Kings academy on a full-time basis for 2015 and started the Under-19 team's opening match of the 2015 Under-19 Provincial Championship season, a 28–15 victory over . However, he lasted just 21 minutes of the match before being suffering a concussion and didn't feature in their next six matches. He made his return as a replacement in their 34–22 victory against and started their 29–10 victory over a week later. He was used as a replacement in their final two matches of the regular season against the s and the s, as Eastern Province finished top of the log, winning eleven of their twelve matches during the season. Mattheus also played off the bench in their 31–15 semi-final victory over Free State, as well in the final, which Eastern Province won by beating the Blue Bulls 25–23 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 ...

to win the competition for the first time in their history.

Eastern Province Kings

In 2016, Mattheus was included in the squad that played in the 2016 Currie Cup qualification series. He made his first class debut in their 19–14 victory over the on 7 May 2016. It took him just four minutes into his debut to score his first points by kicking his first of four penalties in the match. He also scored a conversion to contribute 14 of his team's 19 points in the win. Big points tallies followed in further games, scoring 15 points with the boot in their 35–all draw against the and 21 points against a through four penalties, two conversions and the first try of his senior career. He finished the competition as the Kings' top scorer with 66 points in his eight appearances.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mattheus, Garrick South African rugby union players Living people 1996 births Rugby union players from Port Elizabeth Rugby union fly-halves Rugby union fullbacks Eastern Province Elephants players Boland Cavaliers players Blue Bulls players