Justin Johan Basson (born 10 February 1994) 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 for the in the United Rugby Championship. He also plays for the Rugby ATL in Major League Rugby (MLR) in the U.S. His regular position is lock.

Career

Blue Bulls

Basson was born in

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 ...

. After high school, he joined the Blue Bulls Academy prior to the 2013 season. He was one of the first-choice locks for the side during the 2013 Under-19 Provincial Championship; after two appearances off the bench in their first two matches of the season, he started every other match, helping the Blue Bulls finish top of the log to qualify for the title play-offs. He started their 37–21 semi-final victory against the and also the final, in which the Blue Bulls finished the season as champions after beating

Gauteng Gauteng ( , ; Sotho-Tswana languages, Sotho-Tswana for 'place of gold'; or ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts f ...

rivals 35–23 in

Durban Durban ( ; , from meaning "bay, lagoon") is the third-most populous city in South Africa, after Johannesburg and Cape Town, and the largest city in the Provinces of South Africa, province of KwaZulu-Natal. Situated on the east coast of South ...

. He was named in a 74-man South Africa Under-20 training squad named in February 2014. However, he did not make the final squad that participated at the 2014 IRB Junior World Championship in New Zealand.

Free State Cheetahs

After just one season in

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 ...

, Basson moved to

Bloemfontein Bloemfontein ( ; ), also known as Bloem, is the capital and the largest city of the Free State (province), Free State province in South Africa. It is often, and has been traditionally, referred to as the country's "judicial capital", alongsi ...

to join the . He started the season playing rugby for the , scoring a try in the final of the 2014 Varsity Cup Young Guns competition to help them win the competition for the first time. He started nine of the side's thirteen matches during the 2014 Under-21 Provincial Championship and played off the bench on one occasion. He scored one of his side's eighteen tries in a 118–6 demolition of in his second match at this level and scored another in a 43–21 victory over the later in the season to help his side finish in fourth spot and clinch a title play-off spot. He didn't feature in the semi-finals as his side lost 17–41 to . He was included in a that participated in the 2015 Vodacom Cup. He made his first class debut by starting their second match of the season against in a 52–15 victory.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Basson, Justin South African rugby union players Living people 1994 births Rugby union players from Cape Town Rugby union locks Free State Cheetahs players Cheetahs (rugby union) players Western Province (rugby union) players Stormers players Rugby Football Club Los Angeles players Sharks (rugby union) players Houston SaberCats players South African expatriate rugby union players in the United States 21st-century South African sportsmen