Andrew Justerine Deometrie van Wyk (born 4 August 1989) is a South African 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 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 ...

and the Rugby Challenge. His regular position is winger or centre.

Career

Youth and Varsity Cup rugby

He was selected for several youth tournaments by his local provincial side, . In 2005, he was selected in their Under-16 squad for the Grant Khomo Week tournament and in both 2006 and 2007, he was selected for their Under-18

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 ...

side. Towards the end of 2007, he was also a member of the side that participated in the Under-19 Provincial Championship. In 2008, Van Wyk moved to

Potchefstroom Potchefstroom ( ; ), colloquially known as Potch, is an college town, academic city in the North West (South African province), North West Province of South Africa. It hosts the Potchefstroom Campus of the North-West University. Potchefstro ...

where he became involved in rugby for university side , as well as the Potchefstroom-based provincial outfit the . He played for the side in the 2008, 2009 and

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

Under-21 Provincial Championships. He scored six tries in 2010, one behind the joint-leading try-scorers for the Leopards U21 side, SP Marais and Joubert Engelbrecht. He played

Varsity Cup Varsity Cup is the collective name for four South African rugby union competitions involving the top rugby playing universities in the country. It was launched in 2008, with eight teams participating in the Varsity Cup competition and each unive ...

rugby for four consecutive seasons between

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

and

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

. He scored two tries in nine appearances in his maiden season in the competition in 2009. One try followed in both 2010 (in five appearances) and 2011 (in seven starts), but 2012 was the season when he sprung to prominence with his performances, scoring nine tries in eight starts to finish the season as joint-top try scorer in the competition with 's Chrysander Botha. His scoring spree included three braces during the competition, against the , eventual champions and .

Leopards

Van Wyk was named on the bench for the ' 2011 Currie Cup Premier Division match against and came on with a few minutes remaining in the match to make his first class and

debut. The Leopards suffered relegation during that Currie Cup season, so Van Wyk's seven appearances the following season were in the 2012 Currie Cup First Division. He failed to score any points as the Leopards finished fourth and suffered a semi-final defeat at the hands of the . With Van Wyk not being involved in the Varsity Cup for the first since 2008, he was part of the side that played in the

2013 Vodacom Cup The 2013 Vodacom Cup was played between 9 March and 18 May 2013 and was the 16th edition of this annual domestic cup competition. The Vodacom Cup is played between provincial rugby union teams in South Africa from the Currie Cup Premier and Fi ...

. He played four times without scoring any tries.

Border Bulldogs

He joined

East London East London is the part of London, England, east of the ancient City of London and north of the River Thames as it begins to widen. East London developed as London Docklands, London's docklands and the primary industrial centre. The expansion of ...

-based side the for the

2013 Currie Cup First Division The 2013 Currie Cup First Division was contested from 29 June to 11 October 2013. The tournament (also known as the Absa Currie Cup First Division for sponsorship reasons) is the second tier of South Africa's premier domestic rugby union compe ...

season and recaptured his try-scoring form as he ended the season as the Bulldogs' top scorer with five tries in twelve appearances, which included two tries in their match against the in

Welkom Welkom () is a city in the Free State (province), Free State province of South Africa, located about northeast of Bloemfontein, the provincial capital. Welkom is also known as Circle City, City Within A Garden, Mvela and Matjhabeng. The city' ...

Falcons

Serious financial problems at the at the end of 2013 saw a number of players leave the side, with a large number of players, which included Van Wyk, joining

East Rand The East Rand is a major urban area located in the Gauteng province of South Africa. It is the urban eastern part of Witwatersrand that is functionally merged with the Johannesburg conurbation. The region extends from Alberton in the west to ...

side the . Van Wyk played in all seven their matches during the 2014 Vodacom Cup competition and, despite switching from playing on the wing to outside centre for the first time in his senior career, he scored a further three tries, two of those in their 65–14 victory over the .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Van Wyk, Andrew 1989 births Living people People from Siyathemba Local Municipality Cape Coloureds South African rugby union players Rugby union centres Rugby union wings Border Bulldogs players Falcons (rugby union) players Leopards (rugby union) players Rugby union players from the Northern Cape 21st-century South African sportsmen