Daniel Johannes "Duane" Vermeulen (born 3 July 1986) is a former 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 who previously played for the South Africa national team. He also previously played for

Ulster Rugby Ulster Rugby is one of the four professional provincial rugby union teams from the island of Ireland. They compete in the Irish regional pool of the United Rugby Championship and in the European Rugby Champions Cup, each of which they have won ...

in the

United Rugby Championship 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 ...

, Vodacom Blue Bulls and the , and in South African domestic rugby, the , and in

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 ...

and 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 ...

. He was an instrumental part of South Africa winning the 2019 Rugby World Cup and received the Man of the Match award in the final. Vermeulen played as a Number eight but he was equally adept at playing both blindside and openside flanker. Nicknamed “Thor”, he is known for his physical strength, anticipation under the high ball and leadership abilities. He is widely regarded as one of the best Number Eights in South African Rugby history.

Background

Vermeulen's father died from cancer in c.1997. When Vermeulen was only 10/11 years old.

Club career

Vermeulen began his career in the Free State, playing for the

Free State Cheetahs The Free State Cheetahs (), formerly known as Orange Free State (), currently named the Toyota Free State Cheetahs due to sponsorship reasons, are a South African rugby union team that participates in the annual Currie Cup tournament. They are ...

in the

Currie Cup The Currie Cup () is South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competition featuring teams representing either entire provinces or substantial regions within provinces. Although it is the premier domestic competition, four South African franc ...

and the

Cheetahs The cheetah (''Acinonyx jubatus'') is a large cat and the fastest land animal. It has a tawny to creamy white or pale buff fur that is marked with evenly spaced, solid black spots. The head is small and rounded, with a short snout and blac ...

in the Super 14. He eventually followed his former coach Rassie Erasmus and joined the much larger and more competitive Western Province rugby union in 2009 after three seasons with the Free State. He put in some strong displays for the Stormers in the 2010 Super 14 season, where the Stormers made it all the way to the final. Injuries plagued Vermeulen's 2011 and early 2012 seasons, however, after playing just nine games of Super Rugby, was selected as part of Heyneke Meyer's squad for the away leg of the Rugby Championship. Vermeulen has twice won the

, in 2007 with the Free State and in 2012 with Western Province. He was named captain of the Stormers for the 2015 Super Rugby season. While out with a neck injury, in June 2015 Vermeulen flew to France to be unveiled as a post-

2015 Rugby World Cup The IRB 2015 Rugby World Cup was the eighth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial rugby union world championship. The tournament was hosted by England from 18 September to 31 October. Of the 20 countries competing in the World Cup in 2011, there was ...

signing for

club

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. After a short spell in Japan with Kubota Spears, Vermeulen travelled back to his home nation of South Africa as a -player, signing in October 2018. On 16 September 2021, it was announced that Vermeulen would join Irish province

Ulster Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...

in the

for the 2021–22 season. Vermeulen made his Ulster debut on 11 December 2021 in the European Rugby Champions Cup, against Clermont Auvergne. He spent two seasons with the Irish province, leaving at the end of the 2022–23 season.

International career

Before his first full international cap, Vermeulen represented South Africa at the second level of international rugby, appearing for the Emerging Springboks. One highlight of his appearances for the Emerging Boks was being in the squad that performed against the British & Irish Lions, holding them to a 13–13 draw, during their tour to South Africa in 2009. Vermeulen looked like being a certain selection for the Springboks, Vermeulen was not called into the Springbok squad that faced

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and

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. He was also omitted from the Springboks 2010 Tri Nations Series squad. After a stand out Currie Cup domestic Rugby Season, Vermeulen was named as part of the 39-man preliminary training squad ahead of the 2010 end of year grand slam tour to the Northern Hemisphere. He was once again overlooked for selection in the final squad. Vermeulen made his international debut for

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 ...

on 8 September 2012, where he formed part of the starting lineup going up against

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. He was selected again to start the following week against New Zealand in

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; ) is the second-most populous city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from ("fort of Edin"), the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of S ...

, where South Africa lost by 10 points. On 29 September 2012, South Africa beat

31–8, a victory which marked Vermeulen's first Springbok win. He was selected for the Springboks' 2012 Northern Hemisphere tour. Vermeulen received a

man of the match In team sport, a player of the match award (also known as man of the match or woman of the match) is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chose ...

award for his performance against England at Twickenham during this tour, based on a number of vital turnovers on the ground, 15 hard tackles, and his role of primary ball carrier on the day. In 2014, he was one of five nominees for the IRB Player of the Year award. Vermeulen played in the 2019 Rugby World Cup Final against England. He was part of the South African team that won their third World Cup at the Yokohama Stadium in Japan. He was awarded a man of the match award for his performance where he made a number of vital contributions, including 10 carries, making 49 metres (both the most in the match) and 2 turnovers. Vermeulen was called up by the Springboks at the 2023 Rugby World Cup and the team went on and win the World Cup once again after the

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

. Vermeulen announced his retirement from rugby on 8 November 2023.

Honours

* SARU Rugby Player of the Year 2014 * Super Rugby Player of Year 2014 * IRB Player of the Year – Nominee – 2014 * Super Rugby and Unlocked Player of Year 202

* SA Rugby Player of the Year for 202

* Currie Cup winner 2020–21 Currie Cup Premier Division, 2020–21 * World Cup Winner 2019, 2023 * Rugby Championship Winner 2019

Test Match Record

Pld = Games Played, W = Games Won, D = Games Drawn, L = Games Lost, Tri = Tries Scored, Pts = Points Scored

International Tries

Super Rugby statistics

Personal life

Vermeulen married wife Ezel in 2012, and they have two sons. He has business investments in farming, honey, wine and bubble tea.

References

External links

*
Ulster Rugby profileUnited Rugby Championship profile
*
Stormers profileWP rugby profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vermeulen, Duane 1986 births Living people Rugby union players from Mbombela South African rugby union players South Africa international rugby union players Stormers players Western Province (rugby union) players Cheetahs (rugby union) players Free State Cheetahs players Pumas (Currie Cup) players Rugby union flankers Rugby union number eights White South African people RC Toulon players Kubota Spears Funabashi Tokyo Bay players Bulls (rugby union) players Blue Bulls players Ulster Rugby players South African expatriate sportspeople in Northern Ireland South African expatriate rugby union players in France South African expatriate rugby union players in Japan 21st-century South African sportsmen Expatriate rugby union players in Northern Ireland 2015 Rugby World Cup players 2019 Rugby World Cup players 2023 Rugby World Cup players South Africa national rugby union team captains