André Neal Vos (born 9 January 1975) is a former South African

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player who played as a loose forward for Eastern Province (South Africa),

Queensland Reds The Queensland Reds is the rugby union team based in Brisbane for the Australian state of Queensland that competes in the Southern Hemisphere's Super Rugby competition. Prior to 1996, they were a representative team selected from the rugby union ...

(Australia), The Cats, The Lions and Harlequins (England) until his retirement in 2007.

Rugby career

He also captained the

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

. Vos attended Selborne College in

East London East London is the part of London, England, east of the ancient City of London and north of the River Thames as it begins to widen. East London developed as London Docklands, London's docklands and the primary industrial centre. The expansion of ...

, South Africa (he represented Border at the 1992 Craven Week) and the then

University of Port Elizabeth The University of Port Elizabeth (UPE) was a public university located in Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. UPE was founded on 31 January 1964, by an act of parliament, and held its first academic year in 1965. It off ...

. He represented South Africa at the U21 and at under 23 level. He made his senior provincial debut for Eastern Province (then coached by Alex Wyllie) in 1995, and played 35 matches for that province in 1995 and 1996. He played for the Golden Lions in 1997. In 1998 he wore the

' jersey in the

Super 12 Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It has previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Super Rugby started as the S ...

earning 11 full caps for the Australian franchise. He returned to South African shores in 1998 to play for the

Cats The cat (''Felis catus''), also referred to as the domestic cat or house cat, is a small domesticated carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species of the family Felidae. Advances in archaeology and genetics have shown that the ...

in the Super 12 and for the

Golden Lions The Golden Lions (), currently known as the Fidelity ADT Golden Lions for sponsorship reasons, are a South African professional rugby union team based in Johannesburg who compete in the annual Currie Cup. The team is governed by the Golden ...

in the South African

Currie Cup The Currie Cup () is South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competition featuring teams representing either entire provinces or substantial regions within provinces. Although it is the premier domestic competition, four South African franc ...

. He made his international debut against Italy in

Port Elizabeth Gqeberha ( , ), formerly named Port Elizabeth, and colloquially referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipal ...

on 12 June 1999 as a replacement. The final score was 74-3 in favour of the

. He was in the starting 15 for the next match in

Durban Durban ( ; , from meaning "bay, lagoon") is the third-most populous city in South Africa, after Johannesburg and Cape Town, and the largest city in the Provinces of South Africa, province of KwaZulu-Natal. Situated on the east coast of South ...

. He was in and out of the starting 15 for the next eight test matches, starting in only three. After the IRB

Rugby World Cup The Men's Rugby World Cup is a rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams, the winners of which are recognised as the World championship, world champions of the sport. The tournament is administer ...

in 1999 he took over the captaincy of South Africa from

Joost van der Westhuizen Joost van der Westhuizen (20 February 1971 – 6 February 2017) was a South African professional rugby union player who made 89 appearances in test matches for the national team, scoring 38 tries. He mostly played as a scrum-half and partici ...

. He went on to earn 33 test caps for South Africa (6 as substitute), 16 as captain. He scored 5 tries for South Africa. His international career record is: played 33, won 18, drew 1, lost 14. Vos retired from international rugby in 2002, saying, "Physically I am no longer up to Springbok rugby."

Harlequins

Vos signed for Harlequins in 2002. In 2004, he captained the side to there

European Challenge Cup The EPCR Challenge Cup is an annual rugby union competition organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the second-tier competition for clubs based in European leagues behind the European Rugby Champions Cup. From its inception ...

victory, beating Clermont Auvergne, at the time known as Montferrand, 27-26 in the final. In 2006, he captained the side as they won promotion from the

RFU Championship The RFU Championship is an English rugby union competition comprising twelve clubs. It is the second level of men's English rugby and is played by both professional and semi-professional players. The competition has existed since 1987, when Eng ...

back to the Premiership. He captained the side for three years until he resigned at the end of the 2005/6 season, when

Paul Volley Paul William Volley (born 2 November 1971 in Beckenham, Kent) is an English former rugby union player. As an open-side flanker, he played for London Wasps for 16 years. He joined as a 16-year-old from Chinnor. Volley was first called up to ...

took over. He was able to obtain a free transfer to England, as his English-born wife Caroline holds a British passport.

References

External links

Statistics
at Barbarianfc.co.uk * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vos, Andre 1975 births Living people Alumni of Selborne College Barbarian F.C. players South African expatriate rugby union players in Australia South African expatriate rugby union players in England Golden Lions players Harlequin F.C. players Lions (United Rugby Championship) players University of Port Elizabeth alumni Queensland Reds players Rugby union players from East London, South Africa South Africa international rugby union players South African rugby union players White South African people Rugby union number eights 1999 Rugby World Cup players South Africa national rugby union team captains