Pieter Kuyper Albertyn (27 May 1897 – 7 March 1973), known as "PK" or "Pierre", was 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 and 15th captain of the

South Africa national rugby union team 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 jerse ...

Biography

Born in the small coastal town,

Kleinmond Kleinmond is a small coastal town in the Overberg region of the Western Cape province, South Africa. It is situated inside a UNESCO-declared biosphere about 90 km east of Cape Town between Betty's Bay and Hermanus. The town's name, meaning "s ...

, Albertyn received his schooling at the Stellenbosch Boys' High, after which he went on to the Victoria College in Stellenbosch. During his studies he represented the

Maties Stellenbosch University ( af, Universiteit Stellenbosch) is a public research university situated in Stellenbosch, a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Stellenbosch is the oldest university in South Africa and the oldest extant ...

on the rugby field and played mainly

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 expres ...

, where he was able to utilize his great speed. In 1919, Albertyn was selected to play against the combined New Zealand military team. In this match he injured his knee in such a way that it threatened to end his rugby career. After the injury and in an effort to protect his knee, he was obliged to switch to

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

. In October 1920, Albertyn went to Guy's Hospital, London to study dentistry and on his return to South Africa in June 1923, he settled 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 ...

where he practiced as a dentist. Before the 1924 tour of the British Islands to South Africa, the Sprinbok selectors held trials after which a provisional team was selected. Albertyn was not invited to the trials nor was he selected for the team. A practice match in Durban was arranged for the provisional team and it was then that Albertyn, even before he played any provincial matches, received a request from Oubaas Mark, a national selector, to be in Durban for the match. Albertyn was subsequently selected for the first test, as centre and captain of the team. He captained the Springboks in all four

test matches Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...

in the series against the British Isles, scoring a try in the second test.

Test history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Albertyn, P. K. 1897 births 1973 deaths South African rugby union players South Africa international rugby union players SWD Eagles players Alumni of Paul Roos Gymnasium Stellenbosch University alumni Rugby union players from the Western Cape Rugby union centres Rugby union wings

Biography

Test history

See also

References