Jan Hendrik "Jannie" de Beer (born 22 April 1971) is a South African former
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 played
fly-half for the South African national team, the
Springboks. In all he represented the Springboks in 13 tests, scoring 181 points.
He was principally known as a kicking fly-half.
Career
Born in
Welkom, de Beer represented at the 1989
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 ...
tournament. He made his senior provincial debut for the in 1990 as a 19-year-old.
De Beer made his début against the British & Irish Lions in 1997, being brought in for the dropped
Henry Honiball whose running game had been contained by the Lions' defence in the first two of the three tests. He failed however to establish himself properly in the Springbok side.
De Beer is most famous for his world record five
drop goals in a single test match, set in the
1999 Rugby World Cup
The 1999 Rugby World Cup () was the fourth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial international rugby union championship. It was the first Rugby World Cup to be held in the sport's History of rugby union#The professional era, professional era.
Four a ...
in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
against
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 ...
. The Springboks won the match 44–21, knocking England out of the tournament. However, his attempts to repeat the tactic in the semi-final versus Australia backfired, as despite several attempts he only scored one in the match, and the Australians closed him down. It proved to be his final appearance for the Springboks.
A professed
Christian
A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...
, de Beer credits his faith in God for his successes. De Beer retired from professional rugby in 2002 due to a knee injury.
At the end of 2019, de Beer was appointed as the director of rugby at the
Windhoek Gymnasium.
Test history
''Legend: pen = penalty (3 pts.); conv = conversion (2 pts.), drop = drop kick (3 pts.).''
See also
*
List of South Africa national rugby union players
South Africa national rugby union team players hold several international records. Several players from the South Africa national rugby union team have joined the IRB and International Hall of Fame.
Individual records
Career
South Africa's '' ...
– Springbok no. 653
References
External links
*
Official website of the IRB Rugby World Cup 2003 accessed 17 October 2005.
“Star Q & A: Jannie de Beer” accessed 17 October 2005.
“Rugby World Cup 1999: De Beer Diamond” accessed 17 October 2005.
1971 births
Living people
Bulls (rugby union) players
Free State Cheetahs players
Lions (United Rugby Championship) players
Rugby union fly-halves
Rugby union players from Welkom
South Africa international rugby union players
South African rugby union players
South African expatriate rugby union players in England
University of the Free State alumni
1999 Rugby World Cup players
Saracens F.C. players
London Scottish F.C. players
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