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| Full name | John Thomas Jackson | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date of birth | 10 July 1996 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Calvinia, South Africa | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 100 kg (15 st 10 lb; 220 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| School | Hoër Landbouskool Oakdale, Riversdal | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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John Thomas Jackson (born 10 July 1996) is a South African rugby union player for Rouen Normandie Rugby in the Pro D2. [1] His usually plays as either an inside or outside centre, but he has also occasionally played fly-half in the past.
Jackson was born in Calvinia, but grew up in Riversdal in the Western Cape, representing the SWD Eagles at various youth levels. He earned a provincial selection as early as primary school level, when he played as a fly-half at the Under-13 Craven Week held in Kimberley in 2009. [2] He was the top scorer for SWD at the Under-16 Grant Khomo Week in 2012, scoring a try, seven conversions and three penalties for a total of 28 points in his three starts, [3] at the Under-18 Academy Week in 2013, when he scored 20 points through four conversions and four penalties, [4] and at the Under-18 Craven Week in 2014, scoring two tries, six conversions and two penalties for another 28-points haul. [5]
At the conclusion of the 2014 Craven Week, he was also named in a South Africa Schools team hosted three matches in an Under-18 International Series. Jackson started all three matches; after featuring in a 28–13 victory over France, [6] he scored one try in each of their matches against Wales [7] and England. [8]
After school, Jackson relocated to Pretoria, where he was amongst the Blue Bulls Academy intake prior to the 2015 season. [9] He joined the UP Tuks rugby team – the Pretoria-based university side affiliated to the Blue Bulls Academy – for their 2015 Varsity Cup campaign. After playing off the bench in two matches, Jackson established himself in the starting line-up for the remaining five matches of the season. He scored tries in their matches against CUT Ixias, [10] UJ [11] and in their semi-final defeat to NWU Pukke. [12]
Jackson was named in a 37-man training squad for the South Africa national under-20 rugby union team [13] and started for them in a friendly match against a Varsity Cup Dream Team in April 2015. [14] He was then included in the squad that embarked on a two-match tour of Argentina. [15] He started both of their matches against Argentina helping them to a 25–22 victory in the first match [16] and a 39–28 victory in the second match four days later. [17] Upon the team's return to South Africa, he was named in the final squad for the 2015 World Rugby Under 20 Championship. [18] He started their 33–5 win against hosts Italy [19] and their 40–8 win against Samoa [20] in their first two pool matches. However, he dropped out of the squad for their 46–13 win over Australia in the final pool match [21] and also didn't feature in their 20–28 loss to England in the semi-final [22] or their third-place play-off match against France, where South Africa achieved a 31–18 win to secure third place in the competition. [23]
Jackson returned to domestic action in South Africa, appearing in all fourteen of the Blue Bulls U19' matches in the Group A of the 2015 Under-19 Provincial Championship. [24] While Tinus de Beer was the main goal-kicker for the team, Jackson also contributed 50 points with the boot during the competition, in addition to scoring tries against Golden Lions U19, [25] Free State U19 (first in an away match [26] and then in the return leg at home), [27] Western Province U19 [28] and the Sharks U19 [29] during the regular season, as well as in their semi-final match against Western Province in a 30–29 victory. [30] Jackson also played in the final, but could not help his side to winning the championship, with Eastern Province U19 winning 25–23 in Johannesburg. [31]
In March 2016, Jackson was again included in a South Africa Under-20 training squad, [32] also making the cut for a reduced provisional squad named a week later. [33]
In between training with the team, he returned to the Blue Bulls to make two appearances for them in the 2016 Currie Cup qualification series; he made his domestic first class debut by starting in a 20–17 victory over a Free State XV [34] and also started their 17–38 defeat to Gauteng rivals the Golden Lions XV a week later. [35]
On 10 May 2016, he was included in the final South Africa Under-20 squad for the 2016 World Rugby Under 20 Championship tournament to be held in Manchester, England. [36] He started their opening match in Pool C of the tournament as South Africa came from behind to beat Japan 59–19, [37] and played off the bench in their next pool match as South Africa were beaten 13–19 by Argentina. [38] He was restored to the starting line-up for their final pool match, as South Africa bounced back from their defeat to secure a 40-31 bonus-point victory over France [39] to secure a semi-final place as the best runner-up in the competition. He started the semi-final, as South Africa faced three-time champions England. The hosts proving too strong for South Africa, knocking them out of the competition with a 39–17 victory. [40] Jackson also started against Argentina in the third-place play-off match, but suffered their second defeat to Argentina in the tournament, convincingly being beaten 49–19 [41] to finish in fourth place in the competition.
Jackson made one further start for the Blue Bulls in the Currie Cup qualification series after returning to domestic action, starting in a 95–12 win over Namibian invitational side the Welwitschias. [42]
Jackson was then named in their squad for the 2016 Currie Cup Premier Division. [43]
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