Jaco Booysen is a South African former

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 ...

and

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

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. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

at the

1995 Rugby League World Cup The 1995 Rugby League World Cup (also known as Halifax Centenary World Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the eleventh World Cup for mens national rugby league teams. It was held between 7–28 October and hosted by England and Wales and was wo ...

and

2000 Rugby League World Cup The 2000 Rugby League World Cup was the twelfth Rugby League World Cup, World Cup for men’s national rugby league teams, held between 28 October and 25 November and hosted between the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, Ireland and France. ...

Rugby union career

Booysen made his début for Eastern Transvaal 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 ra ...

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. Some small species of falcons with long, narrow wings are called hobbies, and some that hover while hunting are called kestrels. Falcons are widely distribu ...

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 rugby league club based in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, England that compete in RFL League 1, League One, the third tier of British rugby league system, British rugby league. History 1875–1887: Dewsbury Athl ...

, 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 South African 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 rugby league players South African rugby union players Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people)