Johannes Lodewikus Goosen (born 27 July 1992) is a

South African __NOTOC__ South African may relate to: * The nation of South Africa * South African Airways * South African English * South African people * Languages of South Africa * Southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the Afric ...

professional

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player. He plays as a

fly-half In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards (wearing jerseys numbered 1–8) and seven backs (numbered 9–15). In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players "on the bench", numbered 16– ...

, full-back or

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

for the

Bulls Bulls may refer to: *The plural of bull, an adult male bovine *Bulls, New Zealand, a small town in the Rangitikei District Sports *Bucking bull, used in the sport of bull riding *Bulls (rugby union), a South African rugby union franchise operated ...

and the

Blue Bulls The Blue Bulls (known for sponsorship reasons as the Vodacom Blue Bulls) is a South African rugby union team that participates in the annual Currie Cup tournament. They are governed by the Blue Bulls Rugby Union and are based at Loftus Versfe ...

, competing 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. The current name was adopted in 2021 when the league expanded to include four South Afr ...

and the

Currie Cup The Currie Cup is South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competition, played each winter and spring (June to October), featuring teams representing either entire provinces or substantial regions within provinces. Although it is the premier ...

Career

Youth

He was a member of the South Africa Under 20 team that competed in the

2011 IRB Junior World Championship The 2011 IRB Junior World Championship was the fourth annual international rugby union competition for Under 20 national teams, this competition replaced the now defunct under 19 and under 21 world championships. The event was organised by rugby's ...

and was also named in the squad for the 2012 tournament, but had to withdraw due to a shoulder injury sustained on 28 April in a Super Rugby match against the Highlanders. At the time of his injury, Goosen was the leading points scorer in his debut season of super rugby with 145 points from 9 games. The total included 3 tries, 17 conversions, 31 penalties and a drop goal.

International debut

Goosen made his South African debut on 8 September 2012 against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

in a 26–19 defeat in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

. He came off the bench as replacement fly half for

Morné Steyn Morné Steyn (born 11 July 1984) is a South African rugby union player who plays as a fly-half for the Bulls and played for the South Africa national team, up until his retirement from international test rugby in October 2021. Steyn has won an ...

in the 59th minute of the game. The following two weekends he was in the starting line-up for the Springboks as fly-half, where he performed well. Unfortunately he suffered a knee injury on 18 March 2013 during a Cheetah training session in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

and he also missed the rest of the Springboks' Test matches in 2013.

Departure to France and temporary career-ending

Goosen signed a three-year deal with

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

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 French National Rugby League, also known by its French initialism o ...

side

Racing 92 Racing 92 () is a French rugby union club based in suburban Paris that was formed in 2001 with the collaboration of the Racing Club de France and US Métro. They were called Racing Métro 92 between 2001 and 2015, when they changed the name to ...

for the

2014–15 Top 14 season The 2014–15 Top 14 competition was a French domestic rugby union club competition operated by the Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR). Two new teams from the 2013–14 Pro D2 season were promoted to Top 14 this season, Lyon and La Rochelle in place ...

. In the final of the 2015–16 Top 14 season Goosen scored three penalties as Racing defeated Toulon. Despite later signing a contract extension to remain in Paris until 2020, he later announced his retirement from rugby in December 2016 to take up a role as a commercial director at an agricultural company in South Africa. Goosen has since opened up about believing this decision to have been a mistake.

Return to rugby

Goosen made his return to competitive rugby in April 2018 when he was named in the matchday squad for the ' match against

Munster Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following the ...

in Round 20 of the

Pro14 The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. The current name was adopted in 2021 when the league expanded to include four South Afr ...

competition. Goosen then signed for French giants

Montpellier Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of ...

back in the

competition ahead of the 2019–19 season. The club reportedly paid around €1.5 million to buy him out from his Racing contract. He rewarded the faith by helping his team toward winning the European Challenge Cup in 2021, putting in a man-of-the-match performance against Leicester in the final. On 16 April 2021, Goosen returned to South Africa to sign for the

for the next season.

Style of play

Being able to play at several positions (

and full-back), he can usually be described as a utility back.

Honours

Racing 92

winner 2015–16 *

European Rugby Champions Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Heineken Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...

runner up 2015–16

Montpellier

European Rugby Challenge Cup The EPCR Challenge Cup is an annual rugby union competition organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the second-tier competition for clubs based in European leagues behind the European Rugby Champions Cup. From its inception ...

winner

2020-21 The hyphen-minus is the most commonly used type of hyphen, widely used in digital documents. It is the only character that looks like a minus sign or a dash in many character sets such as ASCII or on most keyboards, so it is also used as such. ...

References

External links

*
itsrugby.co.uk profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goosen, Johan Living people 1992 births South African rugby union players South Africa international rugby union players Rugby union fly-halves Cheetahs (rugby union) players Free State Cheetahs players Afrikaner people South African people of Dutch descent Alumni of Grey College, Bloemfontein People from Burgersdorp South Africa Under-20 international rugby union players South African expatriate rugby union players South African expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate rugby union players in France Racing 92 players Montpellier Hérault Rugby players Blue Bulls players Bulls (rugby union) players Rugby union players from the Eastern Cape