Irné Philip Herbst (born 4 May 1993) 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, currently playing with English team Harlequins in the

Premiership Rugby Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition. The Premiership has consisted of thirteen clubs since 2021, and is the ...

. His regular position is lock.

Rugby career

Schoolboy rugby

Herbst was born in

Witbank Witbank (), officially Emalahleni, is a city situated on the Highveld of Mpumalanga, South Africa, within the Emalahleni Local Municipality. The name Witbank is Afrikaans for "white ridge", and is named after a white sandstone outcrop where wago ...

and earned a call-up to represent Mpumalanga at primary school level at the Under-13 Craven Week in 2006. At high school level, he attended

Hoërskool Waterkloof Hoërskool Waterkloof (colloquially known as Klofies) is a State school, public Afrikaans, Afrikaans medium co-educational high school situated in the eastern suburbs of Pretoria in the Gauteng province of South Africa. It is one of the most expen ...

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends ...

, where he was chosen to represent the at the Under-18

Craven Week The Craven Week is an annual rugby union tournament organised for schoolboys in the Republic of South Africa. The tournament started in July 1964, and is named after the legendary Springbok rugby union player and coach Dr Danie Craven. The tou ...

in 2011. He was included in a South Africa Schools squad that beat their counterparts from

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

21–14 in August 2011.

Youth and Varsity Cup rugby

After high school, he joined the Blue Bulls academy, making nine appearances for a side that reached the final of the

2012 Under-19 Provincial Championship The 2012 ABSA Under-19 Provincial Championship was contested from 13 July to 27 October 2012. The tournament featured the Under-19 players from the fourteen Currie Cup unions. Competition Division A There were seven participating teams in the 201 ...

, where they lost to . He was selected in the South Africa Under-20 squad that played in the

2013 IRB Junior World Championship The 2013 IRB Junior World Championship was the sixth annual international rugby union competition for Under 20 national teams. The event was organised in France by rugby's governing body, the IRB. A total of twelve nations played in the tournament ...

held in France. He started all five of their matches in the tournament, scoring a try in their semi-final defeat to

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

, a result which eliminated South Africa from the competition, eventually finishing third after beating

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

in their final match. Herbst returned to domestic action in South Africa by making twelve appearances for the team in the

2013 Under-21 Provincial Championship The 2013 ABSA Under-21 Provincial Championship will be contested from 12 July to 26 October 2013. The tournament will feature the Under-21 players from the fourteen provincial rugby unions in South Africa. Competition Group A There are seven part ...

. He scored one try in their defeat to as his side reached the final, where they lost to the same opposition. He played in the

2014 Varsity Cup The 2014 Varsity Cup was contested from 3 February to 7 April 2014. The tournament (also known as the ''FNB Varsity Cup presented by Steinhoff International'' for sponsorship reasons) was the seventh season of the Varsity Cup, an annual inter-univ ...

competition for

-based university side , making four appearances, and then made a further eleven starts for the Blue Bulls U21s in the 2013 edition of the Under-21 Provincial Championship. In a repeat of the 2013 final, they again faced Western Province, but turned the tables on this occasion, winning the match 20–10 to be crowned champions. Herbst's 2015 season again started with him representing in the

Varsity Cup Varsity Cup is the collective name for four South African rugby union competitions involving the top rugby playing universities in the country. It was launched in 2008, with eight teams participating in the Varsity Cup competition and each univers ...

, where he made seven starts. He was also named in a Varsity Cup Dream Team at the conclusion of the tournament and played in their match against the South Africa Under-20 squad as they prepared for the

2015 World Rugby Under 20 Championship The 2015 World Rugby Under 20 Championship was the eighth annual international rugby union competition for Under 20 national teams. The event was organised for the second time in Italy by rugby's governing body, World Rugby. Twelve nations played i ...

. However, he then suffered a knee injury that kept him out for the entire season. He made his return in 2016, making his domestic first class debut in the defeat to in the

2016 Currie Cup qualification The 2016 Currie Cup qualification series was a South African rugby union competition organised by the South African Rugby Union which was played between 9 April and 23 July 2016. It featured all fourteen South African provincial unions plus the f ...

series.

Europe

In 2017 Herbst signed for Italian team Benetton. He played in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

until 2021−22 season. On 5 May 2022, Herbst moved to England to join Harlequins in the

ahead of the 2022-23 season.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Herbst, Irne South African rugby union players Living people 1993 births People from Witbank Rugby union locks Blue Bulls players South Africa Under-20 international rugby union players Southern Kings players Benetton Rugby players Rugby union players from Mpumalanga