Cyril John Velleman (born ) is a South African

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

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 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 ...

. His regular position is flanker.

Career

Youth (2011–13)

Velleman was the captain for his school

Grey High School Grey High School is a State school, semi-private English-medium high school (grades 8 to 12) for boys situated in the suburb of Mill Park in Gqeberha in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is one of the top sporting schools in the coun ...

at various youth levels, including the first team in 2012 and 2013. He also represented Eastern Province as various youth levels; he captained their Under-16 side at the 2011 Grant Khomo Week and played for their Under-18 side at the 2012 and 2013

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 ...

tournaments, also captaining Eastern Province at the latter tournament held in

Polokwane Polokwane (, meaning "Sanctuary" in Northern SothoPolokwane - The Heart of the Limpopo Provin ...

Eastern Province Kings / NMMU Madibaz (2014–15)

Velleman was included in the squad for the

2014 Vodacom Cup The 2014 Vodacom Cup was played between 7 March and 16 May 2014 and was the 17th edition of this annual domestic cup competition. This edition of the Vodacom Cup was played between fourteen provincial rugby union teams in South Africa from th ...

and made his first class debut on 15 March 2014 (a few days short of his 19th birthday) in their 60–6 victory over rivals in

Grahamstown Makhanda, formerly known as Grahamstown, is a town of about 75,000 people in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is situated about northeast of Gqeberha and southwest of East London. It is the largest town in the Makana Local Mun ...

. A substitute appearance followed in their match against , as well as one more start against a in Cradock. In the second half of 2014, he captained the team in the Under-19 Provincial Championship, his side's first season in Group A of the competition after they won promotion from Group B at the end of

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

. He started the season by scoring Eastern Province's second try in a 17–29 defeat to defending champions the and maintained a good try-scoring record throughout the eleven matches that he played during season, scoring home-and-away against both the , and the , as well as a try at home against with his six tries making him Eastern Province's second-highest try scorer and points scorer behind fullback Malcolm Jaer. He was promoted to the side for their final two matches of the

2014 Under-21 Provincial Championship The 2014 Under-21 Provincial Championship was a rugby union competition held between the Under-21 players from the fourteen provincial rugby unions in South Africa, plus the sub-union. It was contested from 11 July to 25 October 2014. Group A ...

; with the Under-21 team already having finished top of Group B by winning all seven of their matches during the regular season, Velleman joined them for the semi-final match against . He helped them to a 28–26 win in that match and scored a try in a 46–3 victory over in the final a week later to be crowned Group B champions. Velleman scored two tries in their subsequent promotion play-off match against

Eastern Cape The Eastern Cape ( ; ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, and its largest city is Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth). Due to its climate and nineteenth-century towns, it is a common location for tourists. It is also kno ...

rivals , helping them to a 64–9 victory and a place in Group A of the competition in 2015. At the start of 2015, Velleman played in the

2015 Varsity Cup The 2015 Varsity Cup was contested from 9 February to 13 April 2015. The tournament (also known as the ''FNB Varsity Cup presented by Steinhoff International'' for sponsorship reasons) was the eighth season of the Varsity Cup, an annual inter-u ...

tournament for the . He made six appearances for the team as they finished in seventh position; it was a disappointing season for an NMMU side that qualified for the semi-finals in the last two competitions, but Velleman made his mark by scoring tries in their matches against and . In March 2015, Velleman was named in an extended South Africa Under-20 training group as part of their preparation for the

2015 World Rugby Under 20 Championship The 2015 World Rugby Under 20 Championship was the eighth annual international rugby union competition for Under 20 national teams. The event was organised for the second time in Italy by rugby's governing body, World Rugby. Twelve nations played i ...

. He featured for them in a friendly match against a Varsity Cup Dream Team in April 2015. He was included in the S.A. Under-20 squad that toured Argentina in May 2015 and started their first match, a 25–22 victory over

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 ...

. He didn't feature in the second match and also missed out on the final squad for the

. Velleman was the vice-captain of the side in their first season in Group A of the Under-21 Provincial Championship following promotion from Group B in 2014. The team struggled throughout the competition, winning just one of their twelve matches to finish bottom of the log. Velleman scored two tries in a 24–40 defeat to the s and one more in their 31–45 defeat to , making seven starts during the competition, with injuries restricting his appearances.

Southern Kings (2016–)

In December 2015, Velleman was one of the first twenty players that signed contracts to play for the

Southern Kings The Southern Kings were a South African professional rugby union team that competed in Super Rugby and Pro14. They were based in Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape province and played their home matches at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium. They w ...

in the

2016 Super Rugby season The 2016 Super Rugby season was the 21st season of Super Rugby and the first season featuring an expanded 18-team format. It was also the first season that teams outside Australia, New Zealand and South Africa featured, with the Jaguares from Ar ...

. Club Rugby (2024) Velleman played for Connect NTK RFC in the 2024 season in WPRFU, Super A league competition for the club. Caps : 2

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Velleman, CJ 1995 births Living people Sportspeople from Somerset East White South African people South African rugby union players Rugby union flankers Eastern Province Elephants players Alumni of Grey High School Southern Kings players Griquas (rugby union) players Rugby union players from the Eastern Cape Western Province (rugby union) players 21st-century South African sportsmen