Carel Frederick Kirstein Greeff (born 20 May 1990) is a retired 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. His last team was Italian

Top12 The Top10, known as the Peroni Top10 for sponsorship reasons, and formerly Top 12, is Italy's top level professional men's rugby union competition. The Top 10 is run by Federazione Italiana Rugby (FIR) and is contested by 10 teams as of the 2 ...

side

Rugby Rovigo Delta Rugby Rovigo Delta, formerly known until 2010 as Rugby Rovigo, is an Italian rugby union club currently competing in the Serie A Élite. They are based in Rovigo, in Veneto. Overview The club was founded in 1935 by medical student Dino Lanzoni ...

. His regular position was loose-forward.

Career

Youth

He represented the at the 2006 Under-16 Grant Khomo Week, 2007 Under-18 Academy Week and 2008 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 ...

competitions. His performances in the latter also resulted in his inclusion in an Under-18 South African Elite squad in 2008. The then joined the and was included in their U19 squad for the 2009 Under-19 Provincial Championship competition.

MTN Golden Lions

In 2011, he made his first class debut for the in a compulsory friendly match prior to the

2011 Currie Cup Premier Division The 2011 Currie Cup Premier Division was the 73rd season in the competition since it started in 1889 and was contested from July to October 2011. The tournament (known as the Absa Currie Cup Premier Division for sponsorship reasons) is the to ...

season, starting the match against the . He never appeared in the competition proper, instead representing the team in the

2011 Under-21 Provincial Championship The 2011 ABSA Under-21 Provincial Championship was contested from 15 July to 29 October 2011. The tournament featured the Under-21 players from the fourteen provincial rugby unions in South Africa. Competition Division A There were seven parti ...

competition, making twelve appearances.

Varsity Cup Rugby

He played in the

2013 Varsity Cup The 2013 Varsity Cup was contested from 4 February to 8 April 2013. The tournament (also known as the ''FNB Varsity Cup presented by Steinhoff International'' for sponsorship reasons) was the sixth season of the Varsity Cup, an annual inter-un ...

competition for , scoring five tries in seven appearances, making him the joint top try scorer in the competition.

GWK Griquas

He then joined before the

2013 Currie Cup Premier Division The 2013 Currie Cup Premier Division was the 75th season in the competition since it started in 1889 and was contested from 10 August to 26 October 2013. The tournament (known as the Absa Currie Cup Premier Division for sponsorship reasons) wa ...

. He made his debut for them in the opening match of the season, coming on as a half-time in their match against the in

Durban Durban ( ; , from meaning "bay, lagoon") is the third-most populous city in South Africa, after Johannesburg and Cape Town, and the largest city in the Provinces of South Africa, province of KwaZulu-Natal. Situated on the east coast of South ...

. He scored a try in injury time to tie the score 30–30 and a

Nico Scheepers Jacobus Nicolaas Scheepers (born 27 February 1990) is a South African rugby union footballer. His regular playing position is either full-back or winger. He represents the in the Currie Cup competition, having previously played for the and . ...

conversion gave a dramatic victory.

Toyota Free State Cheetahs

In 2014, Greeff was included in the squad for the

2014 Super Rugby season The 2014 Super Rugby season is the fourth season of the 15-team format for the Super Rugby competition involving teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. For sponsorship reasons, this competition is known as Asteron Life Super Rugby ...

. He was named on the bench for their matches against the and the , but didn't get playing time. However, on 24 May 2014, he made his

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 ...

debut against the in

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

, coming on as a reserve flank.

Steval Pumas

Greeff signed a two-year contract with

Port Elizabeth Gqeberha ( , ), formerly named Port Elizabeth, and colloquially referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipal ...

-based

side the prior to the 2016 season. However, after the side failed to pay players' salaries, allowing all players to join other teams, Greeff moved to

Nelspruit Mbombela, formerly Nelspruit, is a city in northeastern South Africa. It is the capital of the Mpumalanga province. Located on the Crocodile River, the city lies about by road west of the Mozambique border, east of Johannesburg and north of ...

to join the on a two-year deal instead.

Toscana Aeroporti I Medicei

Greeff moved to Italy to join National Championship of Excellence side

I Medicei I, or i, is the ninth letter and the third vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''i'' (pronounced ), plur ...

in 2017. He played a total of 52 games and scored 75 points for I Medicei in 3 full seasons.

Rugby Rovigo Delta

In 2020, Greeff signed a two-year contract with the Top12 side to officially join Rugby Rovigo Delta. In 2021 Carel Greeff scored the final tries in the Semi-Final and Final to secure a dramatic 13th Italian National Championship for Rugby Rovigo Delta. At the end of the 2022 rugby Season Carel retired from professional rugby

Retirement

After his retirement in 2022, he moved to Abu Dhabi with his wife Aloise Greeff, who is a primary school teacher and his son Benjamin. After obtaining his degree in finance and management from the

University of South Africa The University of South Africa (UNISA) is the largest university system in South Africa by enrollment. It attracts a third of all higher education students in South Africa. Through various colleges and affiliates, UNISA has over 400,000 student ...

he began working as a manager of a local goods store. He changed positions in 2023 where he began to work as a General Manager of Al Ain Amblers rugby club. As of 2023 he is also expecting his second child with wife Aloise Greeff. In 2025, Carel and Aloise parted ways and filed for divorce with joint custody. Carel is studying an MBA and is currently appointed as the Al Ain Amblers Rugby Club Head coach while being the General Manager during the day.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Greeff, Carel South African rugby union players Living people 1990 births Rugby union players from Klerksdorp Golden Lions players Griquas (rugby union) players Cheetahs (rugby union) players Rugby union flankers Rugby union number eights Rugby Club I Medicei players Rugby Rovigo Delta players Pumas (Currie Cup) players University of the Witwatersrand alumni South African expatriate rugby union players in Italy 21st-century South African sportsmen