Ruan van Rensburg (born 31 May 1993 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 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 ...

) 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 who plays for the SWD Eagles in South Africa's Provincial Competition 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 ...

. His regular position is scrum-half.

Career

Golden Lions

Van Rensburg 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 ...

in Pretoria, where he played first team rugby in 2010 and 2011. After school, he moved to

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 ...

to join the Academy, where he made a single appearance for the s during the 2012 Under-19 Provincial Championship. He appeared in nine matches for the s during 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 ...

, starting eight of those and scoring a try in their 45–16 victory over . The Golden Lions finished in fourth spot on the log to qualify for the semi-finals, where they lost 41–44

after extra time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a Draw (tie), tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is ...

to eventual champions . At the start of 2014, Van Rensburg was included in 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 ...

competition. He was named on the bench for their second match of the season against near-neighbours the , but failed to make an appearance. He made his first team debut four weeks later; he was once again named on the bench for their match against the in

Polokwane Polokwane (, meaning "Sanctuary" in Northern SothoPolokwane - The Heart of the Limpopo Province ...

and came on just after half-time to replace Ricky Schroeder, eventually helping his side to a 110–0 victory in the match. He also played off the bench in their next match against the in Alberton, this time being on the wrong end of a 27–48 defeat. The Golden Lions finished fourth to qualify for the play-offs and made it all the way to the final of the competition, where they lost 6–30 to . He was a key player for the s in the

2014 Under-21 Provincial Championship The 2014 Under-21 Provincial Championship was a rugby union competition held between the Under-21 players from the fourteen provincial rugby unions in South Africa, plus the sub-union. It was contested from 11 July to 25 October 2014. Group A ...

, starting twelve of their thirteen matches. He shared the kicking duties with Hanco Deale and Brandan Hewitt for the Golden Lions, and ended the second with the second-highest personal points contribution from a Lions player behind Deale; he scored 59 points, which consisted of 25 conversions and 3 penalties. His top points haul in a single match came in their 52–12 victory over , kicking six conversions and a penalty.

Wits & Leopards

Van Rensburg was retained by the Golden Lions for 2015, but was loaned to

Potchefstroom Potchefstroom (, colloquially known as Potch) is an academic city in the North West Province of South Africa. It hosts the Potchefstroom Campus of the North-West University. Potchefstroom is on the Mooi Rivier (Afrikaans for "pretty river" ...

-based side the for the 2015 season. He started the season representing in the 2015 Varsity Shield competition. He scored a try in their 39–24 win over the in Alice and scored fifteen points with the boot during the competition as Wits made it to the final, where they lost 24–29 to . He made two appearances for the Leopards during the

2015 Vodacom Cup The 2015 Vodacom Cup was contested from 6 March to 30 May 2015. The tournament was the 18th edition of the Vodacom Cup, an annual domestic South African rugby union competition, and was played between the fourteen provincial teams in South Africa ...

competition, playing off the bench in their matches against the and

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

n side .

Free State Cheetahs

He moved to

Bloemfontein Bloemfontein, ( ; , "fountain of flowers") also known as Bloem, is one of South Africa's three capital cities and the capital of the Free State (province), Free State province. It serves as the country's judicial capital, along with legisla ...

prior to the 2015 Currie Cup Premier Division and was named on the bench for their third match of the competition against .

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Van Rensburg, Ruan South African rugby union players Living people 1993 births Rugby union players from Pretoria Rugby union scrum-halves Free State Cheetahs players Golden Lions players Leopards (rugby union) players Southern Kings players Cheetahs (rugby union) players Eastern Province Elephants players SWD Eagles players