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

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 ...

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.

Early life

Du Plessis was born in

Somerset East Somerset East () (renamed KwaNojoli in 2023) 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 (South Afri ...

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 Provinc ...

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 t ...

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 ...

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 (SU) (, ) 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 university in Sub-Sahara ...

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 * he He ..., a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name * Michael (bishop elect)">Michael (surname)">he He ..., a given nam ...

and

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, 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 Amabhokobhoko) is the country's national team governed by the South African Rugby Union. The Springboks play in green and gold jersey ...

against the visiting

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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, Doug Jeffrey, Andre Markgraaff 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