Richardt Strauss (born 28 January 1986) is a former 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 who played as a hooker. Born in

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 ...

, South Africa, he began his career with the

Free State Cheetahs The Free State Cheetahs (formerly the Orange Free State), currently named the Toyota Free State Cheetahs, for sponsorship reasons, are a South African rugby union team that participates in the annual Currie Cup tournament. They are governed by th ...

and played for the

Cheetahs The cheetah (''Acinonyx jubatus'') is a large cat native to Africa and central Iran. It is the fastest land animal, estimated to be capable of running at with the fastest reliably recorded speeds being , and as such has evolved specialized ...

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...

before moving to Ireland to play for

Leinster Rugby Leinster Rugby ( ga, Rugbaí Laighean) is one of the four professional provincial rugby union teams from the island of Ireland and the most successful Irish team domestically. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby ...

in 2009. After completing three years' residence in Ireland, Strauss qualified to play for the Ireland national team; he made 17 appearances between 2012 and 2016, including three at the

2015 Rugby World Cup The 2015 Rugby World Cup was the eighth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial rugby union world championship. The tournament was hosted by England from 18 September to 31 October. Of the 20 countries competing in the World Cup in 2011, there was onl ...

. He is the brother of

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

international

Andries Strauss Andries Strauss born 5 March 1984 in Pretoria, South Africa is a former rugby union player that played as a centre. Career Free State Cheetahs After playing for the Free State Under-20 side in 2003, he was included in the senior side for the ...

and the cousin of South Africa international

Adriaan Strauss Jan Adriaan Strauss (born 18 November 1985) is a South African former professional rugby union player who played first class rugby between 2005 and 2018. He played in 66 international test matches for (captaining them in 2016) and also featured ...

Career

Strauss attended Grey College, Bloemfontein. He won the

Under 19 Rugby World Championship The IRB under-19 Rugby World Cup was the premier tournament for male rugby union players under the age of 19 organised by the sports governing body the International Rugby Board (IRB) annually from 2004 until 2007. Both it and the Under 21 Rugby Wo ...

in 2005 with South Africa. He played for the

in the

Currie Cup The Currie Cup is South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competition, played each winter and spring (June to October), featuring teams representing either entire provinces or substantial regions within provinces. Although it is the premier ...

, former club of other past and present Leinster players,

Ollie Le Roux Andre-Henri "Ollie" le Roux (born 10 May 1973) is a South African rugby union footballer with 54 caps for his country. Rugby career Le Roux was born in Fort Beaufort, Eastern Cape. In his professional club rugby career he has played for: the , ...

and

CJ van der Linde Christoffel Johannes van der Linde (born 27 August 1980) is a South African former professional rugby union player and currently the scrum coach at French Top 14 side . He played first class rugby between 2002 and 2015 in South Africa, Ireland, ...

. He scored 14 tries in 54 appearances for the Free State Cheetahs, winning the 2006 Currie Cup in the process. In 2007, Strauss joined the

in the Super 14 playing in 36 games and scoring 1 try. Strauss stayed with the Central Cheetahs until 2009 when he signed a contract with

Heineken Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Heineken Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...

champions

. Strauss made his first appearance for Leinster as a substitute in their

Celtic League The Celtic League is a pan-Celtic organisation, founded in 1961, that aims to promote modern Celtic identity and culture in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany, Cornwall and the Isle of Man – referred to as the Celtic nations; it places part ...

victory over the

Scarlets The Scarlets () are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams and are based in Llanelli, Wales. Their home ground is the Parc y Scarlets stadium. They play in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup (which ...

. Strauss played in his second game a week later as a substitute in Leinster's

win over the

Cardiff Blues Cardiff Rugby ( cy, Rygbi Caerdydd) are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and in European Professional Club Rugby competitions. Based in Cardiff, the team play at Cardiff Arms ...

. Since then, his Leinster career has gone from strength, racking up a total of 35 appearances – including 9 in the Heineken Cup – culminating in Leinster's 2nd Heineken Cup victory against Northampton Saints on 21 May 2011. By this stage, Strauss had established himself as a firm fan favourite and his barn-storming loose displays and solid set-piece played an integral part in Leinster's triumph. In October 2013, Strauss was diagnosed with a heart condition that required surgery, ruling him out for the rest of the 2013–14 season. However, he made a surprising early return in Leinster's Heineken Cup round 6 pool match against the Ospreys on 17 January 2014. Strauss retired from professional rugby at the end of the 2017/18 season. In 2012 Strauss became eligible to play for Ireland, and was named in the Irish team to play against his native

on 10 November 2012, where he faced off in the front row against his cousin Adriaan Strauss. Strauss made his second appearance for Ireland on 24 November 2012 against

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

, scoring his first ever international try in the process. Strauss' brother

Andries Andries is a Dutch and Afrikaans masculine given name or surname equivalent to Andrew. Given name People with this name include * Andries van Artvelt (1590–1652), Flemish painter * Andries Beeckman (1628–1664), Dutch painter * Andries Bekk ...

has played in a non-cap international for the

Springboks 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 jersey ...

against the Barbarians. Strauss was named in the Ireland squad for the

on 31 August 2015 and acquired Irish citizenship two days later on 2 September 2015, during the same citizenship ceremony as Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt.

Notes

External links

Leinster Rugby profileSARugby profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Strauss, Richardt 1986 births Living people South African rugby union players Leinster Rugby players Cheetahs (rugby union) players Free State Cheetahs players Alumni of Grey College, Bloemfontein Irish rugby union players Ireland international rugby union players Ireland Wolfhounds international rugby union players Rugby union players from Pretoria Rugby union hookers