Willem du Plessis (born 4 September 1955) is a former

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 ...

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.

Early life

Du Plessis was born in

Somerset East Somerset East ( af, Somerset-Oos) is a town in the Blue Crane Route Local Municipality in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. It was founded by Lord Charles Somerset in 1825. The Blue Crane Route follows the national road R63 from Pearston, via Som ...

in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. His father, also named Willie, played provincial rugby for Eastern Province and his maternal grandfather, Michael Josias du Plessis played for

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 ...

in 1923 and 1924. Du Plessis was educated at

Gill College Gill College is a South African high school in Somerset East, Sarah Baartman District Municipality. It was founded in 1869 as a university. The school's namesake, Dr. William Gill, died in 1863 and left an estate equivalent to £23,000 () for th ...

in Somerset East and in 1973, represented North Eastern Cape 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 ...

tournament. He also represented Eastern Province at the South African junior athletics championships.

Playing career

In 1975, du Plessis enrolled at

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 ...

for a degree in Physical Education and in 1977 made his debut for Western Province. Between 1977 and 1982, he played 67 matches for Western Province and was a member of the Western Province team that won the Currie Cup in 1982. Two of his brothers,

Michael Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name "Michael" * Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian an ...

and

Carel Carel is a given name, and may refer to: Arts * Carel Blotkamp, Dutch artist and art historian * Carel de Moor, Dutch etcher and painter * Carel Fabritius, Dutch painter and one of Rembrandt's most gifted pupils * Carel van Mander, Flemish painter ...

, were also in the 1982 Currie Cup winning team. Du Plessis made his test debut for the

Springboks The South Africa national rugby union team, commonly known as the Springboks (colloquially the Boks, Bokke or Amabokoboko), is the country's national team governed by the South African Rugby Union. The Springboks play in green and gold jersey ...

against the visiting

South American Jaguars The South American XV (sometimes known as CONSUR XV and formerly as South American Jaguars) is a rugby union team made up from the national rugby sides in the Sudamérica Rugby (formerly CONSUR) rugby federation. The squad was first formed in ...

team on 26 April 1980 and in so doing became the 500th Springbok rugby player. He was capped 14 times and scored 3 test tries for the Springboks. Du Plessis also played in six tour matches, scoring four tries for the Springboks. He retired at the end of the 1982 season, at the age of 26, to take up farming.

Test history

Accolades

In 1979, du Plessis was named one of the five South African Young Players of the Year, along with

Darius Botha Daniël Sarel 'Darius' Botha (26 June 1955 – 12 February 2018) was a South African rugby union player. Playing career Botha played for the Blue Bulls, Northern Transvaal under–20 side in 1974 to 1975 and made his debut for the Northern T ...

, Doug Jeffrey,

Andre Markgraaff Andries Thomas "Andre" Markgraaff (born 23 December 1956) is a retired South African rugby union lock. He matriculated at Diamantveld High School and was a controversial national coach, who resigned after he was taped using the racial K-word. ...

and Gawie Visagie.

Personal

Du Plessis is the brother of Michael du Plessis and Carel du Plessis, both former Springboks and the father of Lizaan du Plessis, a former professional tennis player. His fourth brother, Jacques du Plessis played provincial rugby for Western Province and Eastern Province. During the latter part of the 2000s, Du Plessis emigrated to Australia and resides in Sydney.

References