Divan Serfontein

Divan Serfontein
Birth name	David Jacobus Serfontein
Date of birth	3 August 1954 (age 70)
Place of birth	Krugersdorp, South Africa
Height	1.67 m (5 ft 6 in)
Weight	70 kg (150 lb)
School	Vanderbijlpark High School
University	Stellenbosch University
Occupation(s)	Orthopedic surgeon
Rugby union career
Position(s)
Position(s)	Scrumhalf
Provincial / State sides
Years	Team
1976–1984	Western Province
International career
Years	Team
1980–1984	South Africa

Last updated August 16, 2024

David Jacobus 'Divan' Serfontein (born 3 August 1954 in Krugersdorp, South Africa) is a former Springbok rugby union player.^[1]

Playing career

Provincial career

Serfontein started his rugby career in 1974 at Maties where he was selected for the club's under-20 age group team. He was soon afterwards selected for the Western Province under-20 team and in his first match he played alongside the future South African cricketer, Peter Kirsten. In 1976 Serfontein made his provincial first team debut for Western Province against the touring All Blacks side of Andy Leslie. Western Province won this match 12–11.

At the start of the 1981 rugby season, Serfontein was appointed as Western Province captain. He went on to captain his province 51 times and also led his team to three consecutive Currie Cup titles, in 1982, 1983 and 1984.^[2]

International career

Serfontein made his test debut for the Springboks on 31 May 1980 at his home ground, Newlands in Cape Town against the touring British and Irish Lions team, captained by Bill Beaumont. He also scored his first test try in this match. The test series against the Lions, was followed with tests against the South American Jaguars, France, Ireland, New Zealand ( the so-called Rebel Tour) and England.^[3]

Serfontein was selected as captain for the two test matches against the touring South American Jaguars in October 1984 and in doing so became the 39th Springbok test captain. Serfontein retired from rugby union at the end of the 1984 season, having played 100 matches for Western Province and 19 consecutive test matches for the Springboks. He also scored 3 test tries.^[2]

Test history

No.	Opposition	Result (SA 1st)	Position	Tries	Date	Venue
1.	British Lions	26–22	Scrumhalf	1	31 May 1980	Newlands, Cape Town
2.	British Lions	26–19	Scrumhalf		14 June 1980	Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein
3.	British Lions	12–10	Scrumhalf		28 June 1980	Boet Erasmus Stadium, Port Elizabeth
4.	British Lions	13–17	Scrumhalf		12 July 1980	Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
5.	South American Jaguars	22–13	Scrumhalf		18 October 1980	Wanderers Club, Montevideo
6.	South American Jaguars	30–16	Scrumhalf		25 October 1980	Prince of Wales Country Club, Santiago
7.	France	37–15	Scrumhalf	1	8 November 1980	Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
8.	Ireland	23–15	Scrumhalf		30 May 1981	Newlands, Cape Town
9.	Ireland	12–10	Scrumhalf		6 June 1981	Kings Park Stadium, Durban
10.	New Zealand	9–14	Scrumhalf		15 August 1981	Lancaster Park, Christchurch
11.	New Zealand	24–12	Scrumhalf		29 August 1981	Athletic Park, Wellington
12.	New Zealand	22–25	Scrumhalf		12 September 1981	Eden Park, Auckland
13.	United States	38–7	Scrumhalf		20 September 1981	Owl Creek Polo ground, Glenville, New York
14.	South American Jaguars	50–18	Scrumhalf		27 March 1982	Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
15.	South American Jaguars	12–21	Scrumhalf		3 April 1982	Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein
16.	England	33–15	Scrumhalf		2 June 1984	Boet Erasmus Stadium, Port Elizabeth
17.	England	35–9	Scrumhalf		9 June 1984	Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg
18.	South American Jaguars	32–15	Scrumhalf (c)	1	20 October 1984	Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Pretoria
19.	South American Jaguars	22–13	Scrumhalf (c)		27 October 1984	Newlands, Cape Town

Accolades

Serfontein was named the SA Rugby Player of the Year for 1982.^[4]

Related Research Articles

The South Africa national rugby union team, commonly known as the Springboks, is the country's national team governed by the South African Rugby Union. The Springboks play in green and gold jerseys with white shorts, and their emblem is the Springbok, a native antelope and the national animal of South Africa. The team has represented South African Rugby Union in international rugby union since 30 July 1891, when they played their first test match against a British Isles touring team. Currently, the Springboks are the top-ranked rugby team in the world and reigning World Champions, having won the World Cup a record four times. South Africa have won half of the Rugby World Cups they have participated in and are also the second nation to win the World Cup consecutively.

Nicholas Vivian Haward Mallett is a former South African rugby union player who played for the Springboks, South Africa's national rugby union team, in 1984. He also coached the Springboks between 1997 and 2000 and was the head coach of Italy's rugby union team between 2007 and 2011.

Morné du Plessis OIS is a former South African rugby union player often described as one of the Springboks' most successful captains. During the five years from 1975 to 1980 that he served as captain, the Springboks won 13 of 15 matches, giving Du Plessis an 86.66% success rate as captain.

Daniël Mattheus Gerber is a South African former rugby union player who played for South Africa between 1980 and 1992. He played mainly at inside or outside centre, but also on the wing.

Johannes Jacobus Strydom was a South African rugby union player who played as a lock. He earned 21 caps for the South Africa national rugby union team between 1993 and 1997.

Marthinus Theunis Steyn 'Theuns' Stofberg was a South African rugby union player who was captain of the national team for four tests between 1980 and 1984. He is remembered for his speed and his size, both remarkable for a flank at that time.

Willem Jacobus le Roux is a South African professional rugby union player. He is a versatile back-line player who generally plays as a fullback or wing, though earlier in his career he played mostly as a fly-half. He plays for the South Africa national team and for the Blue Bulls in the United Rugby Championship. He was born in Stellenbosch.

Ruan Jacobus Combrinck is a South African rugby union player. He plays mostly as a wing. He plays for Stade Français in the Top14 in France. He previously played for the Lions in Super Rugby, the Golden Lions and Western Province domestically and Kintetsu Liners in the Japanese Top League.

Jacobus Albertus Kriel is a rugby union player for Lions. He plays as a flanker.

Robert James Louw is a South African rugby footballer who represented South Africa 19 times in international test rugby union. He also played in the Western Province teams that won the Currie Cup five consecutive times. South African rugby chief Danie Craven rated Louw as "one of the best Springboks ever to represent South Africa", "fast enough to play among the backs", and a "superb ambassador for South Africa" due to "his friendly manner and attractive personality". Louw was nominated as South African Rugby Player of the Year in 1979 and in 1984.

Pieter Willem Gabriel Rossouw is a South African former professional rugby player and current coach. Rossouw played wing for Western Province in the Currie Cup and the Stormers in the Super Rugby competition. He played a total of 43 times for the Springboks, making him one of the most capped Springbok wingers after South Africa's readmission to international rugby. He was also one of South Africa's most prolific try-scoring wingers, post-isolation, with only Breyton Paulse(26) and Bryan Habana(53) scoring more tries. He is 7th on the all-time try-scoring list for the Springboks. Rossouw is currently the backline coach of the Bulls in Super rugby and the Blue Bulls in the Currie Cup. He was known as "Slaptjips", apparently because the sight of his running legs was like potato chips slapping together. Pieter is the older brother of Chris Rossouw, who played flyhalf for Western Province and the Free State Cheetahs.

Phillippus Jacobus Mostert was a South African rugby union player and 16th captain of the South Africa national rugby union team. He predominantly played in the forwards as prop, but could also play lock.

Ian McCallum is a former rugby union player. From 1970 to 1974, he played 11 matches as fullback for the Springboks, the South African national rugby union team.

Kevin Brian Henry de Klerk is a former South African rugby union player.

Pieter Gerhardus 'Hempies' du Toit is a former South African rugby union player.

Hendrik Johannes Bekker (born 12 September 1952 in Nuwerus, Western Cape, South Africa is a former South African rugby union player.

Jacobus Johannes 'Colin' Beck is a South African former rugby union player.

Dawid Stefanus Lubbe Snyman is a former South African rugby union player and coach.

Hendrik Jacobus Gerber is a South African former rugby union player.

References

↑ "David Jacobus Serfontein". ESPN scrum. Retrieved 1 October 2019.
1 2 Van der Merwe, F. J. G. (Floris J. G.), 1951- (2007). Matieland is rugbyland, 1980-2006. Stellenbosch: SUN Press. pp. 108–111. ISBN 9781920109790. OCLC 190836768.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
↑ Jooste, Graham K. (1995). South African rugby test players 1949-1995. Johannesburg: Penguin. pp. 100–118. ISBN 0140250174. OCLC 36916860.
↑ SA Rugby Year Book-Jaarboek 1983. South African Rugby Board. 1982.

Sporting positions
Preceded by Wynand Claassen	Springbok Captain 1984	Succeeded by Naas Botha

This South Africa rugby union biography is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] "David Jacobus Serfontein". ESPN scrum. Retrieved 1 October 2019.

[:0-2] 1 2 Van der Merwe, F. J. G. (Floris J. G.), 1951- (2007). Matieland is rugbyland, 1980-2006. Stellenbosch: SUN Press. pp. 108–111. ISBN 9781920109790. OCLC 190836768.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)

[3] Jooste, Graham K. (1995). South African rugby test players 1949-1995. Johannesburg: Penguin. pp. 100–118. ISBN 0140250174. OCLC 36916860.

[4] SA Rugby Year Book-Jaarboek 1983. South African Rugby Board. 1982.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]