Carel Johan du Plessis (born 24 June 1960) is a former

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...

coach and player.

Playing career

Du Plessis played for Western Province and the Springboks, his skills earning him the nickname the ''Prince of Wings''."Springbok legend Du Plessis undergoes brain operation"
''sport24.co.za'', 6 February 2019. Capped 12 times, he scored 4 tries for the Springboks, but his international career was curtailed by the sports boycott against

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

South Africa.

Test history

Coaching career

In late February 1997, du Plessis was appointed coach of the Springboks, succeeding

Andre Markgraaff Andries Thomas "Andre" Markgraaff (born 23 December 1956) is a retired South African rugby union lock. He matriculated at Diamantveld High School and was a controversial national coach, who resigned after he was taped using the kaffir (racial ter ...

, despite a lack of coaching experience. He led the team to defeat in both the

British and Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England national rugby union team, England, Ireland national rugby union team, Ireland, Scotland national rugby union team, Scotland, and ...

' 1997 tour and the

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

Tri-Nations, before being sacked and replaced by

Nick Mallett Nicholas Vivian Haward Mallett (born 30 October 1956) is a former South African rugby union player who played for the South Africa national rugby union team, Springboks, South Africa's national rugby union team, in 1984. He also coached the Sprin ...

, his last game as coach being a 61–22 win over Australia. He was subsequently an assistant coach for Western Province and the

Stormers The Stormers (known for sponsorship reasons as the DHL Stormers) is a South African professional rugby union team based in Cape Town in the Western Cape that competes in the United Rugby Championship, a trans-hemispheric competition that also ...

, with Gert Smal.

Personal

Du Plessis is the brother of Michael du Plessis and Willie du Plessis, both former Springboks, father of

Jean-Luc du Plessis Jean-Luc du Plessis (born 7 May 1994 in Cape Town) is a South African rugby union player for the in Super Rugby and for in the Currie Cup and the Rugby Challenge. His regular position is fly-half. Career Youth He represented at youth level ...

, who plays for the Stormers, and uncle of Daniël du Plessis, a former South Africa U20 player. He has undergone three major surgeries after a brain tumour was discovered in January 2019.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Du Plessis, Carel 1960 births Living people South Africa national rugby union team coaches South African rugby union coaches South African rugby union players South Africa international rugby union players Western Province (rugby union) players People from Somerset East Rugby union players from the Eastern Cape Rugby union centres Rugby union wings

Playing career

Test history

Coaching career

Personal

See also

References