Japie Nel (born 20 November 1982 in

Welkom Welkom () is a city in the Free State (province), Free State province of South Africa, located about northeast of Bloemfontein, the provincial capital. Welkom is also known as Circle City, City Within A Garden, Mvela and Matjhabeng. The city' ...

, South Africa) 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 last played for the 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 ...

. His regular position is centre. Nel made in excess of one hundred career appearances. The majority of those appearances came for his hometown side, the .

Career

Griffons

Nel played club rugby for Welkom Rovers in 2004 and 2005. In 2005, he was one of a number of club players included in a side that played against the in a pre-season match. This led to his inclusion in their squad for the

2005 Currie Cup The 2005 Currie Cup (known as the ''ABSA Currie Cup'' for sponsorship reasons) was the 67th season in the South African Currie Cup competition since it started in 1889. In a rematch of the 2004 Currie Cup Premier Division, 2004 final, the rever ...

competition and he made his first class debut for them in a

qualifying round Qualification may refer to: Processes * Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS), a competitive contract procurement process established by the United States Congress * Process qualification, ensures that manufacturing and production processes can ...

match against . He scored seven tries in the

2007 Currie Cup First Division The 2007 Currie Cup First Division was contested from 22 June to 6 October 2007. 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 compet ...

season, including a hat-trick in their match against the , with Griffons coach, Harry Pienaar, calling Nel "devastating". He was also named the Griffons Back of the Year for 2007.

Leopards

He joined

Potchefstroom Potchefstroom ( ; ), colloquially known as Potch, is an college town, academic city in the North West (South African province), North West Province of South Africa. It hosts the Potchefstroom Campus of the North-West University. Potchefstro ...

-based side the for three seasons between 2008 and 2010. Nel played in all the matches during the 2008 Currie Cup First Division season, but missed the final, which the Leopards lost to his former side the . However the bounced back to win the two-legged promotion/relegation matches, with Nel playing in one of the matches against the to earn the Leopards a spot in the Premier Division for

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

. Nel only made four appearances during that competition, but remained a regular in their

Vodacom Cup The Vodacom Cup was an annual rugby union competition in South Africa. Annual Vodacom Cup competitions were played between its inaugural season in 1998 and 2015 and was contested between February and May each year. The Vodacom Cup was the succes ...

side.

Return to Griffons

He returned to

in 2011 to rejoin the , resuming where he left off by performing to such an extent that he was once again named the Griffons Back of the Year after the

2011 Currie Cup First Division The 2011 Currie Cup First Division was contested from 15 July to 14 October 2011. The tournament (known as the Absa Currie Cup First Division for sponsorship reasons) was the second tier of the 73rd season of the Currie Cup, an annual rugby un ...

season. In total, Nel played in excess of fifty matches for them during his second spell, averaging about one try every two matches. He was also a key member of their

2014 Currie Cup First Division The 2014 Currie Cup First Division was contested between 29 August and 17 October 2014. The tournament (also known as the Absa Currie Cup First Division for sponsorship reasons) was the second tier of South Africa's premier domestic rugby uni ...

-winning side. He played in the final and helped the Griffons win the match 23–21 to win their first trophy for six years.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nel, Japie 1982 births Living people Griffons (rugby union) players Leopards (rugby union) players Rugby union centres Rugby union players from Welkom South African rugby union players 21st-century South African sportsmen