Hendrik (Henno) Mentz (born 25 September 1979 in

Ermelo, Mpumalanga Ermelo () is the educational, industrial and commercial town of the 7,750 km2 Gert Sibande District Municipality in Mpumalanga province, Republic of South Africa. It is both a mixed agriculture and mining region. It is located 210 km eas ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

) 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 it ...

player who represented the Sharks, Leopards and Lions as well as the South African national team, Springboks at first-class level. Mentz played predominantly on the

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is e ...

throughout his career. His most notable achievement was his hat trick score against the at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane for the Lions in 2009, still a franchise record. This was a large contribution to the 31-20 victory that the Lions achieved against the Reds. In the early days of his Super rugby career, Mentz set the competition (at the time, the Super12) alight, however Mentz followed this with a poor Currie Cup. Mentz's career took a further hit when he suffered a hamstring injury which put him out of contention for the 2005 Sharks Super 12 squad. Mentz was capped twice by South Africa in 2004. He played against Ireland in Bloemfontein and his second and final test was in Pretoria against Wales. In 2005 Mentz was the ABSA Currie Cups' leading try-scorer crossing the whitewash 13 times for the Sharks. Henno Mentz's brother, MJ Mentz is an experienced SA Sevens representative and currently plies his trade with the Pumas. Henno Mentz scored an impressive 72 tries in 149 first-class matches, of which he scored 31 of those in 65 provincial matches for Natal.

References

External links

Lions profile
1979 births Living people People from Ermelo, Mpumalanga Afrikaner people South African rugby union players South Africa international rugby union players Golden Lions players Lions (United Rugby Championship) players Sharks (Currie Cup) players Sharks (rugby union) players Leopards (rugby union) players Rugby union wings Rugby union players from Mpumalanga {{SouthAfrica-rugbyunion-bio-stub