Johannes Cornelis de Klerk (born ) is a South African professional

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 for

Canon Eagles The Yokohama Canon Eagles is a Japanese rugby union team founded in 1981 that competes in the Japan Rugby League One and is owned by Canon. The team was previously based in Machida, Tokyo, Japan. According to the official website, it was founded ...

in the Japanese Top League. His regular position is lock.

Career

Youth

De Klerk grew up in Pietersburg (now Polokwane) and was selected to represent Limpopo at the Under-16 Grant Khomo Week in 2007. After high school, De Klerk moved to the

Western Cape The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020 ...

and was linked up with

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

-based side . He made nine appearances for the side during the

2012 Under-21 Provincial Championship The 2012 ABSA Under-21 Provincial Championship will be contested from 13 July to 27 October 2012. The tournament will feature the Under-21 players from the fourteen provincial rugby unions in South Africa. Competition Division A There are seven p ...

, helping the side to third spot on the log to qualify for the semi-finals. He started their 19–18 victory over the s in the semi-final, as well as in the final, where he could not prevent his side suffering a 13–22 defeat to the in Durban.

Maties

De Klerk was included in the squad for the

2013 Varsity Cup The 2013 Varsity Cup was contested from 4 February to 8 April 2013. The tournament (also known as the ''FNB Varsity Cup presented by Steinhoff International'' for sponsorship reasons) was the sixth season of the Varsity Cup, an annual inter-univer ...

competition. He helped them to finish top of the log and beat the 16–15 in the semi-final, but once again lost in a final, this time 5–44 to . De Klerk returned to Varsity Cup action in

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, starting all eight of their matches during the season and scoring a try in each of their matches against

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 Demo ...

-based rivals – one in an 18–15 win over and one in a 24–8 win over . Maties finished third in the competition to qualify for the semi-finals, but were unable to beat their Cape Town rivals , losing the match 8–20.

Western Province / Stormers

Shortly after the conclusion of the 2014 Varsity Cup, De Klerk joined the squad for the

2014 Vodacom Cup The 2014 Vodacom Cup was played between 7 March and 16 May 2014 and was the 17th edition of this annual domestic cup competition. This edition of the Vodacom Cup was played between fourteen provincial rugby union teams in South Africa from the Cu ...

. He made his first class debut by starting in their 65–29 victory over

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n invitational side, . He also started their final two matches of the regular season, a 28–15 win over a and a 14–23 loss to the in

George George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presiden ...

, as Western Province finished in fourth spot in the Southern Section to qualify for the quarter finals. De Klerk also started in their 8–13 defeat to the in

Nelspruit Mbombela (also known as Nelspruit) is a city in northeastern South Africa. It is the capital of the Mpumalanga province. Located on the Crocodile River (Mpumalanga), Crocodile River, Mbombela lies about by road west of the Mozambique border, ea ...

in the quarter final. In

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

, he featured prominently for the Vodacom Cup side. He didn't feature in their opening match of the season against the , but played in the remaining nine matches of the campaign, starting seven of those. He scored his first senior try in their Round Four match against the in a 34–6 win and helped Western Province top the Southern Section log with seven wins out of seven. He played in their 47–22 victory over the in the quarter final, their 10–6 win over the in the semi-final and also started the final, where he could not prevent the win the match 24–7 to win the competition for the first time in their history. De Klerk was named on the bench for the ' final match of the round-robin stage of the

2015 Super Rugby season The 2015 Super Rugby season was the 20th season of Super Rugby and the fifth season featuring an expanded 15-team format. For sponsorship reasons, this competition was known as Asteron Life Super Rugby in Australia, Investec Super Rugby in New ...

against the in

Durban Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...

Canon Eagles

De Klerk joined Japanese Top League side

prior to the

2018–19 Top League The 2018–19 Top League was the 16th season of Japan's top-tier domestic rugby union competition, the Top League. Competition rules The sixteen Top League teams were divided into two conferences for the #First Stage, first stage of the competit ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:De Klerk, Jan South African rugby union players Living people 1991 births People from Polokwane Rugby union locks Stormers players Western Province (rugby union) players Rugby union players from Limpopo Yokohama Canon Eagles players Toyota Industries Shuttles Aichi players