Schalk Burger Brits (born 16 May 1981) is a South African 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 it ...

player who last played for the South Africa national team and the in Super Rugby. He primarily played as a hooker. He was part of the

2019 Rugby World Cup The 2019 Rugby World Cup was the ninth edition of the Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's rugby union teams. It was hosted in Japan from 20 September to 2 November in 12 venues all across the country. The opening match ...

-winning team.

Personal life

Brits was born in

Empangeni Empangeni is a city in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It is approximately 157 kilometres north of Durban, in hilly countryside, overlooking a flat coastal plain and the major harbour town of Richards Bay 16 kilometres away. The N2 freeway runs east ...

, KwaZulu-Natal and attended

Stellenbosch University Stellenbosch University ( af, Universiteit Stellenbosch) is a public research university situated in Stellenbosch, a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Stellenbosch is the oldest university in South Africa and the oldest extant ...

. He married Colinda Wijnants on 29 January 2011 in Greyton, South Africa.

Club career

Western Province

Brits played for the

Western Province Western Province or West Province may refer to: * Western Province, Cameroon *Western Province, Rwanda *Western Province (Kenya) *Western Province (Papua New Guinea) *Western Province (Solomon Islands) *Western Province, Sri Lanka *Western Provin ...

from 2002 to 2004 and rejoined the Cape franchise from 2006 to 2009.

Stormers

Brits played for the Stormers for four seasons making 51 appearances for them and managing to score 20 points.

Saracens

Brits made his debut for Saracens in the season opener against London Irish. He scored his first try for Saracens on 27 September 2009 against

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east ...

in a 19–16 win. He scored seven tries in the 2009–10 season and played every minute in the Premiership Final against Leicester Tigers, which Saracens lost 33–27. Brits was voted Players' Player of the year for the 2009–10 season. In the 2010–11 grand final against Leicester, Brits won the ''Man of the Match'' award in a match that Saracens won 22–18. On 27 June 2011, Brits moved back to his former club Stormers on a short-term loan deal. He played as a back rower for the South African side in the Super Rugby semifinal loss against the

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...

as a replacement for Duane Vermeulen. In January 2012, he signed a new deal with the Saracens that kept him at the club for another three seasons. This was later extended, and he remained at Saracens until the end of the 2017–18 season. During his time at Saracens he has won four Premiership titles in 2011, 2015, 2016 and 2018, with Brits featuring in all four finals. He also helped Saracens win the European Champions Cup in 2016 and 2017.

International career

Brits made his international debut against in 2008. He was next called up when he was included in the Springbok squad that toured

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

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 ...

during the

2012 end-of-year rugby union internationals 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 (measurement), unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment ...

. He came on as a substitute in the match against Scotland to earn his fourth cap. He earned his fifth cap in their next match, replacing

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 ...

as they beat England 16–15. Brits returned to international rugby in 2015, coming on as a substitute in South Africa's 2015 Rugby World Cup warm-up match against Argentina, and was then included in South Africa's squad that participated at the 2015 Rugby World Cup. While he didn't feature in their 32–34 loss to in their opening match, he did play off the bench in their next match against , scoring a late try in a 34–16 victory. He was again omitted against before another appearance from the bench in a 64–0 victory over the . He didn't feature in their 23–19 win over in the quarter final, their 18–20 loss to in the semi-finals or the third-place play-off against , which South Africa won 24–13 to secure the bronze medal in the competition. In 2019, Brits was selected to play for at the

, aged 38. He was named captain in their match against , playing out of position as an eighth man, and also scored a try in the match. South Africa went on to win the tournament, defeating

in the final.

References

External links

*
Profile on itsrugby.co.ukStormers profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brits, Schalk 1981 births Living people People from Empangeni Afrikaner people South African rugby union players South Africa international rugby union players Stormers players Western Province (rugby union) players Saracens F.C. players Golden Lions players Lions (United Rugby Championship) players Rugby union hookers South African expatriate rugby union players Expatriate rugby union players in England South African expatriate sportspeople in the United Kingdom Alumni of Paul Roos Gymnasium Rugby union players from KwaZulu-Natal