Ruben Pieter de Haas (born October 9, 1998) is a

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 scrum-half for the United States Men’s National Team and for the Cheetahs in the 2023-24 EPCR Challenge Cup in Europe.

Early life

Ruben de Haas was born on October 9, 1998, in George, South Africa the son of Pieter de Haas and grandson of Gerard de Haas, both first class rugby players in . De Haas attended Jessieville High School in Arkansas and played rugby for the Little Rock Junior Stormers, one of only two high school rugby teams in the state of

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

Professional career

Cheetahs

After having represented the United States on age-grade level teams (see sections below), De Haas signed an academy contract with South African provincial union the in July 2017. He played for the side in the 2017 Under-19 Provincial Championship, and also played for university side the in the

2018 Varsity Cup The 2018 Varsity Cup was contested from 29 January to 16 April 2018. The tournament (known as the ''FNB Varsity Cup'' for sponsorship reasons) was the eleventh season of the Varsity Cup, an annual inter-university rugby union competition featur ...

, before making his first class debut in South African domestic competition, for the in their

2018 Rugby Challenge The 2018 Rugby Challenge – known as the SuperSport Rugby Challenge for sponsorship reasons – was the second edition of the Rugby Challenge (South Africa), Rugby Challenge, the secondary domestic rugby union competition in South Africa. The c ...

match against the . In May 2018, the Free State Cheetahs announced that he signed a contract with the – the union's

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team – until the end of October 2020.

Saracens

It was announced in February 2021 that de Haas would join

Saracens file:Erhard Reuwich Sarazenen 1486.png, upright 1.5, Late 15th-century Germany in the Middle Ages, German woodcut depicting Saracens Saracen ( ) was a term used in the early centuries, both in Greek language, Greek and Latin writings, to refer ...

ahead of the 2021–22 season.

International career

Youth teams

De Haas first represented the United States as a member of the United States men's national under-19 team (High School All-Americans) in their 2016 tour of

Ontario, Canada Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

. De Haas served as the captain of the High School All-Americans. De Haas debuted with the United States men's national under-20 team (Junior All-Americans) in the

2016 World Rugby Under 20 Trophy The 2016 World Rugby Under 20 Trophy was the ninth annual international rugby union competition for Under 20 national teams, second-tier world championship. The event was held in Harare, Zimbabwe and was organized by rugby's governing body, World ...

. de Haas made his first appearance for the Junior All-Americans as a 65th minute substitute in a 46–44 loss to

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 ...

on April 19. De Haas made his first start at scrum-half for the Junior All-Americans in their 32–12 victory over

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

on April 23. De Haas also made two appearances for the Junior All-Americans in

2017 World Rugby Under 20 Trophy The 2017 World Rugby Under 20 Trophy was the tenth annual international rugby union competition for Under 20 national teams, second-tier world championship. The event was held at the Estadio Charrúa and Estadio Domingo Burgueño in Montevideo, U ...

qualification matches. He scored one

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in the Junior All-Americans' 46–12 defeat to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

on June 13, 2017. He also scored one conversion and one penalty goal in the Junior All-American's 27–25 victory over Canada on June 17, 2017. De Haas served as the vice captain of the Junior All-Americans.

USA Selects

De Haas made his first appearance with the USA Selects on October 7, 2017, starting at scrum-half in the Selects' 48–26 defeat to

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono Island, Manono an ...

in the 2017 Americas Pacific Challenge. De Haas scored his first try for the Selects on October 15, 2017, appearing as a substitute in the Selects' 45–26 victory over

USA Eagles

De Haas made his debut with the USA Eagles on February 17, 2018, appearing as a substitute in the Eagles' 45–13 victory over

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

in the

2018 Americas Rugby Championship The 2018 Americas Rugby Championship was the third series of the Americas Rugby Championship (sometimes informally called the "Americas' Six Nations", a reference to Europe's Six Nations Championship), which is the top elite tournament for the Am ...

. De Haas played 4 matches for the U.S. at the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:De Haas, Ruben 1998 births Living people American rugby union players United States international rugby union players Rugby union players from George, South Africa South African emigrants to the United States Rugby union scrum-halves Free State Cheetahs players Cheetahs (rugby union) players Austin Gilgronis players Saracens F.C. players Houston SaberCats players 2019 Rugby World Cup players