Cornell du Preez (born 23 March 1991) is a South African-born

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

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. He currently plays as a loose forward for

Toulon Toulon (, , ; , , ) is a city in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France. Located on the French Riviera and the historical Provence, it is the prefecture of the Var (department), Var department. The Commune of Toulon h ...

in the

Top 14 The Top 14 () is a professional rugby union club competition that is played in France. Created in 1892, the Top 14 is at the top of the national league system operated by the National Rugby League (France), France National Rugby League, also ...

and represented

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

internationally.

Rugby union career

Early life

Born in

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 ...

, South Africa, du Preez attended

North-West University The North-West University (NWU) is a public research university located on three campuses in Potchefstroom, Mahikeng and Vanderbijlpark in South Africa. The university came into existence through the merger in 2004 of the Potchefstroom Univer ...

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 played in the

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 ...

for . He represented the in the Under-19 and Under-21 Provincial Championship competitions and was named in the squad for 2011, without making an appearance.

Professional career

Du Preez joined the on 1 November 2011, where he signed a two-year deal. He was also named in the squad for the

2013 Super Rugby season The 2013 Super Rugby season was the third season of the new 15-team format for the Super Rugby competition involving teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The tournament was won by the Chiefs, who defeated the Canberra-based Brumbi ...

. He was released during 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 to join

Alan Solomons Alan Solomons (born 31 July 1950) is a former rugby union coach. Law career After studying law at the University of Cape Town, Solomons practised law for 20 years where he was a partner at Sonnenberg, Hoffmann & Galombik. Professional rugby coa ...

Edinburgh Rugby Edinburgh Rugby (formerly Edinburgh Reivers, Edinburgh Gunners) is one of the two professional rugby union teams from Scotland. The club competes in the United Rugby Championship, along with the Glasgow Warriors, its oldest rival. Edinburgh play ...

for the 2013–14 season. Du Preez had a successful first season at

Murrayfield Murrayfield is an area to the west of Edinburgh city centre in Scotland. It is to the east of Corstorphine and north of Balgreen, Saughtonhall and Roseburn. The A8 road (Scotland), A8 road runs east–west through the south of the area. Murra ...

, racking up 23 appearances and ultimately being named 'Newcomer of the Year'. A serious leg injury sustained in October 2014 during a match against Newport Gwent Dragons saw Du Preez missing a substantial part of the 2014–2015 season. Du Preez was first assigned to

Edinburgh Academicals Edinburgh Academical Football Club, also known as Edinburgh Accies, is a rugby union club in Edinburgh, Scotland. The club is currently a member of the Scottish Premiership (rugby union), Scottish Premiership, the top tier of Scottish club rugby ...

when not in use by

, and in 2015 was assigned to Heriots. On 13 February 2018 it was announced that Du Preez would leave Edinburgh for English side

Worcester Warriors Worcester Warriors are a professional rugby union club based in Worcester, England. They most recently played in Premiership Rugby, the top division of English rugby union, before being suspended by the Rugby Football Union, RFU in September 2 ...

in the

Aviva Premiership Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition, consisting of 10 clubs, and is the top division of the English rugby u ...

ahead of the 2018-19 season. On 16 June 2021, it was confirmed that du Preez has left Worcester to complete his move with French side

in the

ahead of the 2021-22 season. In his first season in France, he was used a great deal and established himself as a regular in the second half of the season. He played in the European Challenge finals in this role, but lost in the final with his team against the Bristol Bears. In all, he played twenty-seven games and was a regular in Toulon's third row eighteen times that season. The following season, he retained his starting place in Toulon's starting XV and once again qualified for the Challenge Cup final with his team, this time beating Glasgow Warriors 43-19. During this season, he played twenty-three games, including only two as a substitute, and was one of the Top 14's leading tacklers of the season. At the start of the 2023-2024 season, having reached the end of his contract at the end of the season, he is used less often and is a more regular substitute than in previous seasons. On 9 August 2024, du Preez would join

Biarritz Biarritz ( , , , ; also spelled ; ) is a city on the Bay of Biscay, on the Atlantic coast in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the French Basque Country in southwestern France. It is located from the border with Spain. It is a luxu ...

in the second-tier

Pro D2 The Pro D2 is the second tier of rugby union club competition division in France. It is operated by Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR) which also runs the division directly above, the first division Top 14. Rugby Pro D2 was introduced in 2000. It ...

competition from the 2024-25 season.

International career

Du Preez was part of the South Africa Under-20s team that played at the

2011 IRB Junior World Championship The 2011 IRB Junior World Championship was the fourth annual international rugby union competition for Under 20 national teams, this competition replaced the now defunct under 19 and under 21 world championships. The event was organised by rugby' ...

. However, on 13 November 2016 he was called into the Scotland squad for the Autumn International Series as an injury replacement, having qualified for Scotland through the three year residency requirement, although he didn't take part in any match. He was called up again for the

2017 Six Nations Championship The 2017 Six Nations Championship was the 18th series of the Six Nations Championship, the annual northern hemisphere rugby union championship. The tournament was also known as the RBS 6 Nations because of the tournament's sponsorship by NatWest ...

, and made his debut against England at Twickenham before gaining his second test cap the following week in the final day victory over Italy. Du Preez made his first international start in November 2017, wearing the Number 8 shirt in a narrow 17-22 defeat to the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks, is the representative men's national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of New Zealand, which is considered the country's national sport. Famed for th ...

References

External links

*
Worcester Warriors Profile

Scottish Rugby Union Profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Du Preez, Cornell 1991 births Living people South African rugby union players Eastern Province Elephants players Southern Kings players Rugby union players from Gqeberha South Africa Under-20 international rugby union players Edinburgh Rugby players Worcester Warriors players Scotland international rugby union players Scottish rugby union players Edinburgh Academicals rugby union players Heriot's Rugby Club players Rugby union number eights RC Toulon players Scottish expatriate rugby union players in France South African expatriate rugby union players 21st-century South African sportsmen