Stedman-Ghee Rivett Gans (born 19 March 1997) is a South African rugby sevens player for the South Africa national team and 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 for the in the

United Rugby Championship The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. The current name was adopted in 2021 when the league expanded to include four South Afr ...

and 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 ...

. He usually plays as a centre or a winger.

Rugby career

2013–2015: Schoolboy rugby

Gans was born in Vredenburg. He attended primary school in the town, before moving to

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 ...

to attend

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 ...

. He earned provincial colours by representing the at high school tournaments between 2013 and 2015. In 2013, he played for them at the Under-16 Grant Khomo Week held in

Vanderbijlpark Vanderbijlpark is an industrial town with approximately 95 000 inhabitants, situated on the Vaal River in the south of Gauteng province, South Africa. The city is named after Hendrik van der Bijl, an electrical engineer and industrialist. Vand ...

, before representing them at South Africa's premier high schools competition, the Under-18 Craven Week in both 2014 and 2015. He scored one try in the 2014 event held in Middelburg, in a 21–10 victory over the Golden Lions, and repeated the feat in the 2015 event in Stellenbosch, scoring a try against Western Province in a 13–20 defeat. He caught the eye of the national selectors and was named in the 2015 South Africa Schools squad for the Under-18 International Series. He scored two tries in their match against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

in the first match of the series, helping his team to a 42–11 victory, and also helped them to wins over

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

2016: UP Tuks, South Africa Under-20 and Blue Bulls Under-19

At the start of 2016, Gans made three appearances for in the

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 ...

competition, before joining up with the South Africa Under-20 squad for the

2016 World Rugby Under 20 Championship The 2016 World Rugby Under 20 Championship was the ninth annual international rugby union competition for Under 20 national teams. The event was organised in England by rugby's governing body, World Rugby. Twelve nations took part in the tournamen ...

held in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

. He made just one appearance in their final match of the competition, starting on the right wing in a 19–49 defeat to

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 ...

in the third-place play-off match. He returned to domestic action, starting six matches for the team in the

2016 Under-19 Provincial Championship The 2016 Under-19 Provincial Championship was the 2016 edition of the Under-19 Provincial Championship, an annual national Under-19 rugby union competition held in South Africa, and was contested from 17 June to 22 October 2016. The competition ...

. After scoring tries in matches against ," and , he scored two tries in victories over and to finish the competition as his team's joint-top try scorer. He helped his team finish second on the log to qualify for the play-offs, but could not prevent his side being eliminated at the semi-final stage, losing 24–34 to the Golden Lions.

2017: South Africa Sevens

Gans joined the South Africa Sevens' Academy at the end of 2016, played for the team at the

2016 Dubai Sevens The 2016 Dubai Sevens was the first tournament within the 2016–17 World Rugby Sevens Series. It was held over the weekend of 2–3 December 2016 at The Sevens Stadium in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Format The teams are drawn into four pools o ...

. In February 2017, he was named as an official reserve for the national sevens team for the

2017 USA Sevens The 2017 USA Sevens (also sometimes referred to as the 2017 Las Vegas Sevens) was the fourteenth edition of the USA Sevens tournament, and the fifth tournament of the 2016–17 World Rugby Sevens Series. The tournament was played on 3–5 March 2 ...

tournament, and a week later, an injury to

Justin Geduld Justin Gilberto Geduld (born 1 October 1993) is a South African rugby union player, currently contracted to SARU as a sevens rugby player, as well as playing domestic rugby union for . His regular position is centre. He was a member of the Sou ...

saw him promoted to the main squad for the

2017 Canada Sevens The 2017 Canada Sevens was the second edition of the Canada Sevens tournament, and the sixth tournament of the 2016–17 World Rugby Sevens Series. The tournament was played on 11–12 March 2017 at BC Place in Vancouver, BC. Format The teams we ...

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

. He was again named in a South Africa Under-20 training squad for 2017.

Honours

* Springbok Sevens Player of the Year 202

* Super Rugby Unlocked Super Rugby Unlocked, 2020

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gans, Stedman South African rugby union players Living people 1997 births People from Saldanha Bay Local Municipality Rugby union centres Rugby union wings South Africa international rugby sevens players Bulls (rugby union) players Blue Bulls players Rugby sevens players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic rugby sevens players for South Africa