Richardt Strauss (born 28 January 1986) is a former professional

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 hooker. Born in

Pretoria Pretoria ( ; ) is the Capital of South Africa, administrative capital of South Africa, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to the country. Pretoria strad ...

, South Africa, he began his career with the

Free State Cheetahs The Free State Cheetahs (), formerly known as Orange Free State (), currently named the Toyota Free State Cheetahs due to sponsorship reasons, are a South African rugby union team that participates in the annual Currie Cup tournament. They are ...

and played for the

Cheetahs The cheetah (''Acinonyx jubatus'') is a large cat and the fastest land animal. It has a tawny to creamy white or pale buff fur that is marked with evenly spaced, solid black spots. The head is small and rounded, with a short snout and blac ...

Super Rugby 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 ...

before moving to Ireland to play for

Leinster Rugby Leinster Rugby () is one of the four professional provincial club rugby union teams from the island of Ireland. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup. The team represents the Leinster Branch, one of t ...

in 2009. After completing three years' residence in Ireland, Strauss qualified to play for the Ireland national team; he made 17 appearances between 2012 and 2016, including three at the

2015 Rugby World Cup The IRB 2015 Rugby World Cup was the eighth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial rugby union world championship. The tournament was hosted by England from 18 September to 31 October. Of the 20 countries competing in the World Cup in 2011, there was ...

. He is the brother of

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 ...

international Andries Strauss and the cousin of South Africa international Adriaan Strauss.

Career

Strauss attended Grey College, Bloemfontein. He won the

Under 19 Rugby World Championship The IRB under 19 Rugby World Cup was the premier tournament for male rugby union players under the age of 19 organized by the sports governing body (the International Rugby Board World Rugby is the governing body for the sport of rugby union. ...

in 2005 with South Africa. He played for the

in the

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 ...

, former club of other past and present Leinster players, Ollie Le Roux and CJ van der Linde. He scored 14 tries in 54 appearances for the Free State Cheetahs, winning the 2006 Currie Cup in the process. In 2007, Strauss joined the

in the Super 14 playing in 36 games and scoring 1 try. Strauss stayed with the Central Cheetahs until 2009 when he signed a contract with

Heineken Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Investec Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...

champions

. Strauss made his first appearance for Leinster as a substitute in their

Celtic League The Celtic League is a pan-Celtic organization, founded in 1961, that aims to promote modern Celtic identity and culture in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany, Cornwall and the Isle of Man – referred to as the Celtic nations; it places pa ...

victory over the

Scarlets The Scarlets () are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams and are based in Llanelli, Wales. Their home ground is the Parc y Scarlets stadium. They play in the United Rugby Championship and in European Professional Club Rugby c ...

. Strauss played in his second game a week later as a substitute in Leinster's

win over the

Cardiff Blues Cardiff Rugby () are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams. Based in Cardiff, the team play at Cardiff Arms Park. Originally formed in 1876, from 2003 to 2021 the first team was known as the Cardiff Blues before rebranding back ...

. Since then, his Leinster career has gone from strength, racking up a total of 35 appearances – including 9 in the Heineken Cup – culminating in Leinster's 2nd Heineken Cup victory against Northampton Saints on 21 May 2011. By this stage, Strauss had established himself as a firm fan favourite and his barn-storming loose displays and solid set-piece played an integral part in Leinster's triumph. In October 2013, Strauss was diagnosed with a heart condition that required surgery, ruling him out for the rest of the 2013–14 season. However, he made a surprising early return in Leinster's Heineken Cup round 6 pool match against the Ospreys on 17 January 2014. Strauss retired from professional rugby at the end of the 2017/18 season. In 2012 Strauss became eligible to play for Ireland, and was named in the Irish team to play against his native

on 10 November 2012, where he faced off in the front row against his cousin Adriaan Strauss. Strauss made his second appearance for Ireland on 24 November 2012 against

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

, scoring his first ever international try in the process. Strauss' brother Andries has played in a non-cap international 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 Barbarians. Strauss was named in the Ireland squad for the

on 31 August 2015 and acquired Irish citizenship two days later on 2 September 2015, during the same citizenship ceremony as Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt.

Notes

External links

Leinster Rugby profileSARugby profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Strauss, Richardt 1986 births Living people South African rugby union players Leinster Rugby players Cheetahs (rugby union) players Free State Cheetahs players Alumni of Grey College, Bloemfontein Irish rugby union players Ireland international rugby union players Ireland Wolfhounds international rugby union players Rugby union players from Pretoria Rugby union hookers 2015 Rugby World Cup players South African expatriate rugby union players in Ireland Naturalised citizens of Ireland South African emigrants to Ireland Irish people of South African descent Naturalised rugby union players