Marnitz Louis Boshoff (born 11 January 1989) 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 usually plays as a fly-half or fullback. He plays for the in

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 ...

, 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 ...

and the in the Rugby Challenge, having previously played for South African provincial sides , the and the in the

and for

side the . He also had a short stint with Irish provincial side

Connacht Connacht or Connaught ( ; or ), is the smallest of the four provinces of Ireland, situated in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, C ...

in the

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 ...

. He played in a single test match for in 2014 and also featured for invitational side the

Barbarians A barbarian is a person or tribe of people that is perceived to be primitive, savage and warlike. Many cultures have referred to other cultures as barbarians, sometimes out of misunderstanding and sometimes out of prejudice. A "barbarian" may ...

Rugby career

Youth rugby

Born in

Nelspruit Mbombela, formerly Nelspruit, is a city in northeastern South Africa. It is the capital of the Mpumalanga province. Located on the Crocodile River, the city lies about by road west of the Mozambique border, east of Johannesburg and north of ...

in the

Mpumalanga Mpumalanga () is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name means "East", or literally "The Place Where the Sun Rises" in the Nguni languages. Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, bordering Eswatini and Mozambique. It shares bor ...

province of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, Boshoff is a graduate of Nelspruit Hoërskool and attended the

University of Pretoria The University of Pretoria (, ) is a multi-campus public university, public research university in Pretoria, the administrative and ''de facto'' capital of South Africa. The university was established in 1908 as the Pretoria campus of the Johan ...

. He was part of the youth team of Nelspruit-based side the Pumas from 2005 to 2007, before joining the academy of the

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 ...

-based

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 and the United Rugby Championship. They are governed by their second team t ...

Blue Bulls

Boshoff first played at provincial level for the

, playing for them from 2009 to 2011 after coming through their youth side. During his time with the Blue Bulls, he played 24 times, scoring 130 points.

Griquas

In 2012, Boshoff moved to the

Griquas The Griquas are a subgroup of mixed-race heterogeneous formerly-Xiri-speaking nations in South Africa with a unique origin in the early history of the Dutch Cape Colony. Text was copied from this source, which is available under a Creative Comm ...

. He spent one year there, making 13 appearances and scoring 37 points.

Golden Lions / Lions

He joined the for 2013. He played in both legs of the ' promotion/relegation matches after the

2013 Super Rugby season The 2013 Super Rugby season was the third season of the new 15-team format for the Super Rugby competition involving teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The tournament was won by the Chiefs, who defeated the Canberra-based Brumbi ...

, which saw the regain their spot in Super Rugby. After a season that saw him finish as the top points scorer for the in 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 ...

, he was then included in the squad for the

2014 Super Rugby season The 2014 Super Rugby season is the fourth season of the 15-team format for the Super Rugby competition involving teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. For sponsorship reasons, this competition is known as Asteron Life Super Rugby ...

and made his

debut in a man-of-the-match performance in the opening match of the season, scoring all the Lions' points – including a last-minute drop goal – to help them beat the 21–20 in

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 ...

. He was the Golden Lions' first-choice fly-half during the

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

and

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

competitions, with the Lions reaching the final both times and winning the trophy in 2015, with Boshoff again finishing as the top points scorer.

Connacht

In March 2016, Irish

Pro12 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

announced that they secured Boshoff's services on a two-year contract.

Representative rugby

In May 2014, Boshoff was one of eight uncapped players that were called up to a

Springbok The springbok or springbuck (''Antidorcas marsupialis'') is an antelope found mainly in south and southwest Africa. The sole member of the genus (biology), genus ''Antidorcas'', this bovid was first Species description, described by the Germa ...

training camp prior to the

2014 mid-year rugby union tests The 2014 mid-year rugby union internationals (also known as the summer internationals in the Northern Hemisphere) were international rugby union matches mostly played in the Southern Hemisphere during the June international window. These matches w ...

. Although not initially selected in the 36-man squad, Boshoff was called up to the squad when

Damian de Allende Damian de Allende (born 25 November 1991) is a South African professional rugby union player who currently plays for the South Africa national team and Japanese club Saitama Wild Knights. His usual position is either centre or wing. He was a ...

suffered a knee ligament injury. He played off the bench against

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

and scored his first points by converting a try. He was chosen to represent the

to face

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

on 1 November 2014 at

Twickenham Twickenham ( ) is a suburban district of London, England, on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historic counties of England, Historically in Middlesex, since 1965 it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, who ...

. He came off the bench and scored two conversions and a try, but the Barbarians lost 36–40.

References

External links

*
itsrugby.co.uk profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boshoff, Marnitz Living people 1989 births South African rugby union players Rugby union fly-halves Rugby union fullbacks Rugby union players from Mbombela Griquas (rugby union) players Golden Lions players Connacht Rugby players Blue Bulls players Lions (United Rugby Championship) players Afrikaner people South Africa international rugby union players 21st-century South African sportsmen Tuks Rugby Club players