Rudi "Poerie" van Rooyen (born 5 January 1992) 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 for Lokomotiv-Penza in the

Professional Rugby League The Russian Rugby Championship, officially known as the Liga Stavok - Russian Rugby Championship for sponsorship reasons (russian: Лига Ставок - Чемпионат России по регби), is Russia's top level professional men's ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. His regular position is scrum-half.

Career

Youth and Varsity Cup rugby

Van Rooyen represented the at the annual

Craven Week The Craven Week is an annual rugby union tournament organised for schoolboys in the Republic of South Africa. The tournament started in July 1964, and is named after the legendary Springbok rugby union player and coach Dr Danie Craven. The tou ...

tournaments both at primary school and secondary school levels, playing at the Under-13 edition in 2005 and progressing to the Under-18 competition in 2010. He scored a try in his only appearance at the senior event in a 23–20 defeat to the ' Under-18s in

Welkom Welkom () is the second-largest city in the Free State province of South Africa, located about northeast of Bloemfontein which is the provincial capital. Welkom is also known as Circle City, City Within A Garden, Mvela and Matjhabeng. The cit ...

. Van Rooyen was also involved at Under-19 level later in 2010, making six appearances in the 's

2010 Under-19 Provincial Championship 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

campaign. He returned for the Under-19s for the

2011 Under-19 Provincial Championship The 2011 ABSA Under-19 Provincial Championship was contested from 15 July to 29 October 2011. The tournament featured the Under-19 players from the fourteen provincial rugby unions in South Africa. Competition Division A There were seven partici ...

, scoring two tries as they finished runners-up in the competition. During the same period, he also made the step up to the Under-21s, playing in three matches during the

2011 Under-21 Provincial Championship The 2011 ABSA Under-21 Provincial Championship was contested from 15 July to 29 October 2011. The tournament featured the Under-21 players from the fourteen provincial rugby unions in South Africa. Competition Division A There were seven partici ...

. In 2012, Van Rooyen was named in the side that played in the 2012 Varsity Cup tournament. He played in their final two pool matches, as well as in their 53–24 semi-final victory over and the final itself, coming on in the last few minutes to help Tuks see out the game and beat 29–21 to clinch their first ever

Varsity Cup Varsity Cup is the collective name for four South African rugby union competitions involving the top rugby playing universities in the country. It was launched in 2008, with eight teams participating in the Varsity Cup competition and each univers ...

title.

Blue Bulls

Van Rooyen made his first class debut during March 2012, coming on as a substitute in the '

2012 Vodacom Cup The 2012 Vodacom Cup was played between 10 March and 18 May 2012 and was the 15th edition of this annual domestic cup competition. The Vodacom Cup is played between rugby union teams in South Africa from the Currie Cup Premier and First Divisions, ...

clash against 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 ...

. He made two more appearances off the bench during the competition, in their matches against the and the . Van Rooyen made no appearances for the remainder of 2012 or the first half of 2013, but returned to action for the side 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 ...

, which saw him score a brace of tries in two different matches (a 59–17 win against the in

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" ...

and a 40–27 victory over the in Pretoria) and making a total of twelve starts. Van Rooyen returned to first class action during 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 ...

as he played in the final few minutes of the ' match against the .

Griquas

After the

competition, Van Rooyen moved to

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia * Kimberley (Western Australia) ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Kimberley * Kimberley Warm Springs, Tasmania * Kimberley, Tasmania a small town * County of Kimberley, a ...

to join on a deal until the end of 2014. During July of the same year, he represented his new side twice during the

2014 Currie Cup qualification The 2014 Currie Cup qualification series was a tournament organised by the South African Rugby Union. It featured seven teams and was played in June and July 2014, with the winner qualifying for the 2014 Currie Cup Premier Division. The remaining ...

tournament, making appearances from the bench against the and the , as Griquas won the qualification tournament to secure a place in the

2014 Currie Cup Premier Division The 2014 Currie Cup Premier Division was the 76th season in the competition since it started in 1889 and was contested from 9 August to 25 October 2014. The tournament (known as the Absa Currie Cup Premier Division for sponsorship reasons) is the ...

. Despite that being his only involvement in the first team, Griquas announced at the start of October that Van Rooyen signed a contract extension to remain in Kimberley for the 2015 season. A few days later, he also got his first opportunity to play in the Premier Division of 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 ...

, coming on as a late substitute in their final match of the season against his former side, the in a 46–12 defeat.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Van Rooyen, Rudi South African rugby union players Living people 1992 births Rugby union players from Pretoria Rugby union scrum-halves Blue Bulls players Griquas (rugby union) players Southern Kings players Eastern Province Elephants players Lokomotiv Penza players