Douw Gerbrandt Grobler (born 6 February 1992) is a 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, who plays for

Sharks (Currie Cup) The Sharks (), known as the Hollywoodbets Sharks for sponsorship reasons, are a South African rugby union team that participates in the annual Currie Cup tournament. The Sharks are the current representative team of the KwaZulu-Natal Rugby Uni ...

. His regular position is

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 ...

Career

Youth

Grobler went to

Afrikaanse Hoër Seunskool Afrikaanse Hoër Seunskool (also known as Affies), is a Public school (government funded), public Afrikaans, Afrikaans medium high school for boys situated in the suburb of Arcadia, Pretoria, Elandspoort in Pretoria in the Gauteng province of So ...

Pretoria Pretoria ( ; ) is the Capital of South Africa, administrative capital of South Africa, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to the country. Pretoria strad ...

and represented the at the 2010

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 ...

. Grobler then moved to

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 ...

to join . He played for the team in the 2011 Under-19 Provincial Championship and for the team in the

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

and

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

Under-21 Provincial Championships.

Western Province / Stormers

Grobler was included in the squad for 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 ...

and made his debut in their 42–31 Quarter Final victory over the . Grobler made three more first class appearances for in the

2013 Vodacom Cup The 2013 Vodacom Cup was played between 9 March and 18 May 2013 and was the 16th 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 Fi ...

before being included on the bench for the '

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 against the . He remained unused for that match, but made his

debut the following week, playing off the bench in a 22–15 victory over the in Cape Town. After another spell with the Vodacom Cup side, where he made a further four starts, he returned to the Super Rugby side to make his first start in the competition against the and eventually making a total of five appearances in the competition. Grobler made his

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 ...

debut in August 2013, starting in Western Province's 24–24 draw with the in the opening round of 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 ...

season. He made a further six appearances as a reserve in the remainder of the tournament, but then suffered an ankle injury that ruled him out of the play-off stages, as well as the majority of the 2014 season. Grobler made his return to the side in October 2014, starting their final regular season match against the . He also played off the bench in the final, helping win the title by beating the 19–16.

Racing 92

After Grobler's serving his two-year ban, Grobler left South Africa to sign for top French club

Racing 92 Racing 92 () is a French professional rugby union club based in the Hauts-de-Seine department, Paris' western inner Banlieue, suburbs that competes in Top 14. The club plays its home matches at the 30,681-capacity Stadium#Types, domed stadium Pa ...

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 ...

for the 2016–17 season.

Munster

In July 2017, it was announced that Grobler had joined Irish

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

Munster Munster ( or ) is the largest of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the south west of the island. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" (). Following the Nor ...

on a one-year contract. On 24 August 2017, Grobler made his non-competitive debut for Munster when he started alongside compatriot Jean Kleyn against

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 a pre-season friendly in

Sixways Stadium Sixways Stadium is a stadium in Worcester, England. It is currently used for rugby union and association football matches and is the home stadium of Premier 15s side Worcester Warriors Women, football side Worcester Raiders F.C., Worcester Ra ...

. During the game, Grobler suffered an ankle injury which he subsequently had to undergo surgery for. He was ruled out until early 2018. Grobler finally made his competitive debut for Munster on 10 February 2018, coming off the bench in the provinces' 33–5 win against

Zebre Zebre Parma (, meaning " Zebras") are an Italian professional rugby union team competing in the United Rugby Championship and EPCR competitions from the 2012–13 season. They are based in Parma (Emilia-Romagna), Italy. They are operated by t ...

in the

2017–18 Pro14 The 2017–18 PRO14 (also known as the ''Guinness PRO14'' for sponsorship reasons) was the seventeenth season of the professional rugby union competition originally known as the Pro14, Celtic League. It is the first season to be referred to as t ...

Gloucester

Grobler joined English Premiership side

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city, non-metropolitan district and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West England, South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean ...

ahead of the 2018–19 season.

Stade Français

Grobler returned to the

with Stade Français on a two-year contract ahead of the 2020–21 season.

References

External links

Munster ProfilePro14 ProfileEPCR Profile

Gloucester Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grobler, Gerbrandt South African rugby union players Western Province (rugby union) players Stormers players Living people 1992 births Rugby union locks Rugby union players from Mbombela Doping cases in rugby union Munster Rugby players Gloucester Rugby players Stade Français Paris players South African expatriate rugby union players in France 21st-century South African sportsmen Racing 92 players Sharks (Currie Cup) players Sharks (rugby union) players Alumni of Afrikaanse Hoër Seunskool South African expatriate rugby union players in England