David George Ribbans (born 29 August 1995) is a 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 who plays as a

lock Lock(s) or Locked may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainme ...

for

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 ...

club

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 ...

. Born in South Africa, he represented

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 ...

at international level after qualifying on ancestry grounds.

Early life

Ribbans was born and grew up in

Somerset West Somerset West () is a town in the Western Cape, South Africa. Organisationally and administratively it is included in the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality (South Africa), metropolitan municipality Eastern Suburbs zone (formerly called ...

, Western Cape,

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

Club career

2014–2016: Youth rugby / Western Province

He attended and played rugby at Somerset College, and, despite never being selected to play provincial rugby at schoolboy level, he joined the Western Province Rugby Institute after high school. He was included in the squad that participated in the

2014 Under-19 Provincial Championship The 2014 ABSA Under-19 Provincial Championship was a rugby union competition held between the Under-19 players from the fourteen provincial rugby unions in South Africa, plus the sub-union. It was contested from 11 July to 25 October 2014. Gr ...

. He didn't feature in the first seven rounds of the competition, but played off the bench in their next match against the s before being promoted to the starting lineup for their next match against the s and remained in the starting lineup for the remainder of the competition. He scored a decisive try in their 21–20 victory over as Western Province won nine of their twelve matches during the regular season to finish in third position on the log. Ribbans helped his side to a 29–22 victory over in their semi-final, and he won silverware the next week when Western Province beat the Blue Bulls 33–26 in the final in Cape Town. At the start of 2015, Ribbans featured in a friendly match for

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 ...

franchise the against fellow side

Western Cape The Western Cape ( ; , ) is a provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the List of South African provinces by area, fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , an ...

side the , and he also made his first class debut in March 2015, starting 's 25–10 victory over another team from the Western Cape, the , in Caledon in Round One of the

2015 Vodacom Cup The 2015 Vodacom Cup was contested from 6 March to 30 May 2015. The tournament was the 18th edition of the Vodacom Cup, an annual domestic South African rugby union competition, and was played between the fourteen provincial teams in South Afr ...

, his only appearance in the competition. In the second half of 2015, he played for the team in Group A of the Under-21 Provincial Championship, where he quickly became a key player, featuring in ten of their twelve matches during the regular season. He scored a try against as Western Province finished top of the log, winning ten of their matches. Ribbans started their semi-final match against the Golden Lions and scored a try five minutes before half time as his side ran out 43–20 winners. He scored his third try of the season in the final, scoring Western Province's fourth of six tries in a 52–17 victory over the s in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

to win a youth competition for the second season in a row. At the start of 2016, Ribbans was named in the squad for 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 ...

, but didn't feature in any of their matches. He played in four matches for a team that finished top of the 2016 Currie Cup qualification series, winning thirteen out of their fourteen matches. He once again reverted to the side in the second half of the season, scoring a try against in one of his six appearances in the 2016 Under-21 Provincial Championship. He also made his debut in the Currie Cup Premier Division in 2016, coming on as a replacement in their 52–31 victory over in

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia Queensland * Kimberley, Queensland, a coastal locality in the Shire of Douglas South Australia * County of Kimberley, a cadastral unit in South Australia Ta ...

. He made a second appearance off the bench a week later against the , scoring his first try in first class rugby. It proved to be a vital try for Western Province who were 28–20 down at the time in a match they had to win to ensure qualification to the semi-finals, with fly-half Robert du Preez's subsequent conversion and penalty five minutes later enough to secure third place on the log for Ribbans' team. Despite this, Ribbans didn't feature in their semi-final against the , which Western Province lost 30–36 to be eliminated from the competition.

2017–2023: Northampton Saints

After the 2016 season, Ribbans moved to

to join Premiership side

Northampton Saints Northampton Saints (officially Northampton Rugby Football Club) is a professional rugby union club from Northampton, England. The club plays in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby union. It was formed in 1880 as "Northampton St. ...

, with the team announcing his signing on 5 January 2017. Starting his first game in a Saints shirt in a friendly against

Bedford Blues Bedford Blues are a semi-professional rugby union club in the town of Bedford, England, currently playing in the RFU Championship. History Foundation and 19th century Bedford RUFC was founded in 1886 after an amalgamation between Bedford Rove ...

, Ribbans quickly established himself as a first-team contender with a hat trick against the

RFU Championship The RFU Championship is an English rugby union competition comprising twelve clubs. It is the second level of men's English rugby and is played by both professional and semi-professional players. The competition has existed since 1987, when Eng ...

side. Ribbans progressed into the first team, earning over 100 appearances for Saints and proving to be a favourite with the supporters for his high work-rate and big hits. His last appearance for Northampton came in a league semi-final which saw them eliminated by champions

Saracens file:Erhard Reuwich Sarazenen 1486.png, upright 1.5, Late 15th-century History of Germany, German woodcut depicting Saracens ''Saracen'' ( ) was a term used both in Greek language, Greek and Latin writings between the 5th and 15th centuries to ...

2023–present: Toulon

Ribbans joined

for the

2023–24 Top 14 season The 2023–24 Top 14 competition is the 125th French domestic rugby union club competition operated by the Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR). Format The top six teams at the end of the regular season (after all the teams played one another twice ...

International career

In October 2020 Ribbans was called up to a senior

training squad by head coach Eddie Jones. On 12 November 2022 he made his

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film) ...

debut starting in a victory against

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. He then played in their next game which saw England draw with

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. New coach

Steve Borthwick Stephen William Borthwick (born 12 October 1979) is an English rugby union coach and former player, who is currently the head coach of the England national team. As a player, he played as a lock for Bath and Saracens. At international level, he ...

included Ribbans in the squad for the

2023 Rugby World Cup The 2023 Rugby World Cup () was the tenth men's Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national rugby union teams. It took place in France from 8 September to 28 October 2023 in nine venues across the country. The opening game ...

and he featured in three of their four warm-up matches and started in the pool stage game against

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

. He did not participate in the quarter or semi-final but did come off the bench in their last fixture of the tournament as England defeated

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 ...

to finish third and claim a bronze medal.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ribbans, David 1995 births Living people South African rugby union players England international rugby union players Rugby union players from Somerset West Rugby union locks Western Province (rugby union) players 2023 Rugby World Cup players Northampton Saints players RC Toulon players 21st-century South African sportsmen