Jaco Booysen is a South African former

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 ...

and

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 11 ...

footballer who played in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. He played representative rugby league (RL) for

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

at the 1995 Rugby League World Cup and 2000 Rugby League World Cup.

Rugby union career

Booysen made his début for

Eastern Transvaal Mpumalanga () is a province of South Africa. The name means "East", or literally "The Place Where the Sun Rises" in the Swazi, Xhosa, Ndebele and Zulu languages. Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, bordering Eswatini and Mozambique ...

in 1987. He had a brief stint with

Northern Transvaal Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ...

but returned to Eastern Transvaal and later captained the side. When Booysen retired in 2001 after a severe neck injury he had played 132 matches for the

Falcons Falcons () are birds of prey in the genus ''Falco'', which includes about 40 species. Falcons are widely distributed on all continents of the world except Antarctica, though closely related raptors did occur there in the Eocene. Adult falcons ...

Rugby league career

Booysen played for the South African Rhinos 25 times in

.Booysen bowing out?
''news24.com'', 25 September 2001 He captained the side at the 1995 World Cup and was also part of the squad at the 2000 World Cup.Fiji Can Beat Roos, Warn Rhinos
''Sydney Morning Herald'', 11 October 1995 In 1996 he spent the season at the

Dewsbury Rams The Dewsbury Rams are a professional English rugby league club based in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire that compete in the Championship. They play their home games at the Tetley's Stadium, on Owl Lane. The Rams' main fanbase comes from their hometo ...

, along with several other South African World Cup players. Despite the hype surrounding their arrival, the imports failed to make a lasting impression at the club and returned home the following year.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Booysen, Jaco 1960s births Living people Dewsbury Rams players Expatriate rugby league players in England Falcons (rugby union) players Rugby league props Rugby union flankers South Africa national rugby league team captains South Africa national rugby league team players South African expatriate rugby league players South African expatriate sportspeople in England South African rugby league players South African rugby union players