Gerhard Mans (19 April 1962 – 4 May 2022) was a Namibian rugby union player. He was the father of Gerhard Mans, who represented Namibia in cycling.

Playing career

Born in Karasburg, a small town in southern South West Africa (now Namibia), Mans attended school in

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and after school moved to Bloemfontein, South Africa for tertiary studies at the

University of the Orange Free State The University of the Free State is a multi-campus public university in Bloemfontein, the capital of the Free State and the judicial capital of South Africa. It was first established as an institution of higher learning in 1904 as a tertiary se ...

. He made his senior provincial debut in South Africa for the Orange Free State in 1982 and in 1985 returned to his home country. At the time South West Africa participated in the South African domestic rugby competitions. In 1987 Mans was appointed captain of South West Africa and under his leadership during 1987, South West Africa won the B division of the Currie Cup and gained promotion to the A division for the 1988 season. In 1990, Namibia gained independence and consequently withdrew from the South African rugby competitions. Mans was selected as captain for the first Namibian national side after independence. Namibia played its first test match on 24 March 1990 in Windhoek against Zimbabwe and Mans scored one of his team's six tries in a 33–18 victory. In his second test, against Portugal, he scored a record six tries. Mans continued to play 27 test matches and scored 26 tries for Namibia and also captained the team 26 times. The only occasion that he did not captain the team, was during the 1995 World Cup qualifying final group stages against the

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...

, when he played as a replacement and the team was captained by Henning Snyman. Mans retired at the end of the 1994 season, after Namibia failed to qualify for the 1995 World Cup.

Test history

Accolades

Mans was one of the five nominees for 1988 SA Rugby player of the Year award. The other nominees for the award were

Adolf Malan Adolf Weich Malan (born 6 September 1961) is a former South African rugby union player. He played 159 matches for Northern Transvaal. His usual position was as lock, where he also played for the national team, the Springboks. Playing career Ma ...

, Calla Scholtz,

Tiaan Strauss Christiaan Petrus 'Tiaan' Strauss, (born 28 June 1965) is a former rugby union and rugby league footballer who represented both South Africa and Australia at international level in rugby union and also played top-level domestic rugby league in ...

and the eventual winner of the award, Naas Botha.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mans, Gerhard 1962 births 2022 deaths Road incident deaths in Namibia Namibian expatriates in South Africa Namibia international rugby union players Free State Cheetahs players Sportspeople from ǁKaras Region Rugby union fullbacks