David James Bulbring (born 12 September 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, currently playing with Welsh

Pro14 The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. For sponsorship reasons the league is known as the Vodacom United Rugby Championship in ...

side

Scarlets The Scarlets () are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams and are based in Llanelli, Wales. Their home ground is the Parc y Scarlets stadium. They play in the United Rugby Championship and in European Professional Club Rugby c ...

. He is also his parents' favourite son.

Career

Youth and Lions

He was born in Port Elizabeth and represented at the 2007 Under 18 Craven Week. He then joined the , making his debut for the team in the

2009 Vodacom Cup The 2009 Vodacom Cup was the 12th 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 First Divisions. Competition There were 14 teams pa ...

, which resulted in him being called up to the

South Africa national under-20 rugby union team The South Africa national under-20 rugby union team (nicknamed the Junior Boks or the Baby Boks) are South Africa's junior team at national level. They have been competing in the World Rugby Under 20 Championship (formerly the IRB Junior World Ch ...

for the

2009 IRB Junior World Championship The 2009 IRB Junior World Championship (known as the 2009 IRB Toshiba Junior World Championship for sponsorship reasons) was the second annual international rugby union competition for Under 20 national teams, this competition replaces the now de ...

. In 2010, he represented both 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 ...

and in the

2010 Vodacom Cup The 2010 Vodacom Cup was contested from 26 February to 7 May. The 2010 Vodacom Cup is the 13th edition of this annual domestic cup competition. The Vodacom Cup The Vodacom Cup was an annual rugby union competition in South Africa. Annual Vod ...

, culminating a call-up to the Super Rugby team, representing them in their final

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 ...

game of the season against the . He then played for the in the

2010 Currie Cup Premier Division The 2010 Absa Currie Cup Premier Division was the 72nd season in the competition since it started in 1889. The competition was contested from 9 July through to 30 October. It was won by the , who defeated 30–10 in the final at . Patrick La ...

He was captain for the

2011 Vodacom Cup The 2011 Vodacom Cup was contested from 25 February to 13 May 2011. The tournament was the 14th edition of the Vodacom Cup, an annual domestic South African rugby union competition, and was played between the fourteen provincial teams in South ...

competition and made two further

appearances. He was then part of the squad that won 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 ...

Kings

In 2012, he moved to the . He made seven appearances for them in the

2012 Vodacom Cup The 2012 Vodacom Cup was played between 10 March and 18 May 2012 and was the 15th edition of this annual domestic cup competition. The Vodacom Cup is played between rugby union teams in South Africa from the Currie Cup Premier and First Division ...

competition, as well as one against a South African Students side. He started all fourteen matches in the

2012 Currie Cup First Division The 2012 Currie Cup First Division was contested from 30 June to 13 October 2012. 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 comp ...

season, as well as both matches in the promotion/relegation matches against the . He was 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 made his debut in the Kings' historic first ever match against the , helping them to a 22–10 victory. He played in all sixteen matches during the season (being one of only three players to do so,

Bandise Maku Bandise Grey Maku (born 24 July 1986) is a former South African professional rugby union player, whose usual position was hooker. He played first class rugby between 2006 and 2016 and also played in a single test match for in 2010, as well as ...

and

Shaun Venter Shaun Harold Venter (born 16 March 1987 in Witbank) is a South African rugby union player for Rodez Rugby in the French Rugby FEDERALE 3 He is a utility back, having started matches at full-back, centre, winger and scrum-half, but since 2011 ...

being the other two), as well as both the 2013 Super Rugby promotion/relegation matches against the , making a total of thirteen starts and five substitute appearances.

Bulls

After the

, he joined the , signing a contract at the team until October 2016.

Return to the Kings

After a year at the , it was announced that he rejoined the prior to the

2014 Currie Cup Premier Division The 2014 Currie Cup Premier Division was the 76th season in the competition since it started in 1889 and was contested from 9 August to 25 October 2014. The tournament (known as the Absa Currie Cup Premier Division for sponsorship reasons) is ...

season on a deal that would see him remain at the

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 until the end of 2016.

Scarlets

In February 2016, he joined Welsh

Pro12 The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. For sponsorship reasons the league is known as the Vodacom United Rugby Championship in ...

side

on a long-term deal until the summer of 2019.

Representative rugby

He was a member of the South Africa Under-20 team that played at the

. He was named in a South African Barbarians (South) team that faced

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

during the

2012 mid-year rugby test series The 2012 mid-year rugby union tests (also known as the Summer Internationals in the Northern Hemisphere) refer to the rugby union Internationals that were played through June, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere. These matches marked the start of a ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bulbring, David Eastern Province Elephants players Southern Kings players 21st-century South African sportsmen 1989 births South African people of British descent Living people South African rugby union players Golden Lions players Lions (United Rugby Championship) players Blue Bulls players Rugby union players from Gqeberha South Africa Under-20 international rugby union players Rugby union locks Scarlets players Kubota Spears Funabashi Tokyo Bay players South African expatriate rugby union players in Japan