Gerald Raymond Bosch (born 12 May 1949) is a former 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.

Playing career

Bosch played his provincial rugby for

Transvaal Transvaal is a historical geographic term associated with land north of (''i.e.'', beyond) the Vaal River in South Africa. A number of states and administrative divisions have carried the name Transvaal. * South African Republic (1856–1902; af, ...

and made his debut for the union in 1972. During his career with Transvaal he scored 521 points in

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 ...

matches and 896 points in all provincial matches. He made his test debut for the

Springboks The South Africa national rugby union team, commonly known as the Springboks (colloquially the Boks, Bokke or Amabokoboko), is the country's national team governed by the South African Rugby Union. The Springboks play in green and gold jersey ...

on 22 June 1974 at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria, in the second test against the touring British Lions team captained by

Willie John McBride William James McBride, CBE, better known as Willie John McBride (born 6 June 1940) is a former rugby union footballer who played as a Lock (rugby union), lock for Ireland national rugby union team, Ireland and the British and Irish Lions. He pla ...

. Bosch scored 9 points in the match but was dropped from the team for the remaining matches in the series. He returned to the side for the Springboks' tour to France at the end of 1974 and played in both test matches as well as in five tour matches. In 1975 Bosch once again played in both test matches against the touring French team and set a South African record by scoring 22 points in a test match during the second test on 28 June 1975 at Loftus Versfeld. His record was only equaled by Gavin Johnson in 1993 and again by

Joel Stransky Joel Theodore Stransky (born 16 July 1967) is a South African former rugby union player. A fly-half, he is known for scoring all of South Africa's points, including the winning drop goal, against New Zealand in the 1995 Rugby World Cup final. ...

, later during 1993. Johnson improved the record to 28 point in a test against Western Samoa in 1995. In 1976 he played in all four test matches against the touring All Blacks, captained by

Andy Leslie Andrew Roy Leslie (born 10 November 1944) is a former New Zealand rugby union player. A number eight, he represented Wellington domestically and captained the All Black at international level. He was captain during the controversial 1976 New Z ...

. Bosch scored a total of 89 points in his 9 test matches and a further 43 point in tour matches.

Test history

''Legend: pen = penalty (3 pts.); conv = conversion (2 pts.), drop = drop kick (3 pts.).''

Accolades

In 1972, Bosch was one of the five Young Players of the Year, along with

Paul Bayvel Paul Campbell Robertson Bayvel (28 March 1949 – 14 April 2020) was a South African rugby union player who played for the national team as a scrum-half. Playing career Bayvel made his provincial debut for Transvaal in 1972 and in the same yea ...

, Pikkie du Toit,

Dugald MacDonald Dugald Alexander MacDonald (born 20 January 1950) is a South African former rugby union player of Scottish origins. He played for against the 1974 British Lions tour to South Africa.Bath, p139 His younger brother Donald was capped for seven ...

and Jackie Snyman.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bosch, Gerald 1949 births Living people South African rugby union players South Africa international rugby union players People from Vereeniging Rugby union players from Gauteng Rugby union fly-halves Golden Lions players

Playing career

Test history

Accolades

See also

References