Neil (Niles) de Kock (born 20 November 1978) is a retired

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 ...

footballer who last played at

scrum half Scrum may refer to: * Autozam Scrum, a microvan and pickup truck sold in Japan by Mazda * Line of scrimmage, line separating football teams before a play * Media scrum, an impromptu press conference, often held immediately outside an event such a ...

for

Saracens file:Erhard Reuwich Sarazenen 1486.png, upright 1.5, Late 15th-century History of Germany, German woodcut depicting Saracens ''Saracen'' ( ) was a term used both in Greek language, Greek and Latin writings between the 5th and 15th centuries to ...

. He has claimed ten caps for

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 ...

. Before moving to the

Guinness Premiership Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition, consisting of 10 clubs, and is the top division of the English rugby u ...

in 2006 he had gained a reputation for hard work and personal integrity from his days in South African rugby, representing

Western Province Western Province or West Province may refer to: *Western Province, Cameroon *Western Province, Rwanda *Western Province (Kenya) *Western Province (Papua New Guinea) *Western Province (Solomon Islands) *Western Province, Sri Lanka *Western Provinc ...

and the

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 ...

franchise the

Stormers The Stormers (known for sponsorship reasons as the DHL Stormers) and the academic team DHL Stormers is a South African professional rugby union team based in Cape Town in the Western Cape that competes in the United Rugby Championship, a tra ...

, having started his professional career at the Griffons.

Early life

Born 20 November 1978 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 ...

, De Kock was educated at Boston Primary, Bellville and The Settlers High School, Bellville before attending

Stellenbosch University Stellenbosch University (SU) (, ) is a public research university situated in Stellenbosch, a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Stellenbosch is the oldest university in South Africa and the oldest extant university in Sub-Sahara ...

. Initially failing to secure a contract with his native

side, he made the journey to the Griffons in

Free State Province The Free State ( ; ; ; ; ), formerly known as the Orange Free State, is a province of South Africa. Its capital is Bloemfontein, which is also South Africa's judicial capital. Its historical origins lie in the Boer republic called the Orang ...

in search of

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 ...

rugby to start his professional career.

Playing career

Griffons 1999–2000

De Kock spent a season playing in

playing for the Griffons in a team that was to ultimately to produce four

Springboks The South Africa national rugby union team, commonly known as the Springboks (colloquially the Boks, Bokke or Amabhokobhoko) is the country's national team governed by the South African Rugby Union. The Springboks play in green and gold jersey ...

in Lukas Van Biljon, Gavin Passens and Dean Hall as well as De Kock. His performances offered him the chance to return to his home union to represent Western Province.

Western Province/Stormers 2000–06

De Kock was to spend 6 seasons with

making 52 appearances in a team that won the

in his first two seasons with the side. In 2001, his second season with Western Province he made the step up to

(then Super 12) level rugby with the associated

franchise, going on to make 49 appearances. Also in the 2001 season, De Kock won his first full international honours with the

against Italy. At international level a frustrating period followed, first in a sequence games sitting unused on the bench, followed by a knee injury offering further chances for his rival at Super 12 and national level, Bolla Conradie. He forced his way back into contention, appearing in the 2002 Tri Nations series, starting two games, appearing from the bench in a third and scoring his maiden test try. The following season saw De Kock continuing to battle for his shirt at Western Province, Stormers and national level, making only one start and a single bench appearance for the Springboks. He was though selected for the Rugby World Cup 2003 South Africa squad, making one starting line up and appearing from the bench three times, as well as scoring his second international try. Succeeding seasons brought further regular appearances for De Kock for Western Province and the Stormers, but opportunities to fight his way back into the Springbok side were limited and in 2006 he made the move to the northern hemisphere, signing for

in time for the 2006–07

season.

Saracens 2006–2017

De Kock made his debut for

against

London Irish London Irish RFC is a professional rugby union club that most recently competed in the Premiership Rugby, Premiership, the top division of rugby union in England. The club also participated in the European Rugby Champions Cup, European Champion ...

on 30 September 2006. In his debut season at Saracens, De Kock saw off strong competition from the likes of Fijian Mosese Rauluni and the Englishman Alan Dickens to establish himself as first choice scrum-half, making 25 appearances for the club. He quickly formed an effective partnership with New Zealander Glen Jackson at fly-half, yielding performances that put him contention for the club's player of the season. For the 2007–08 season, De Kock's leadership role at Saracens was rewarded as he was named as the playing captain for the season, alongside club captain and England stalwart, Richard Hill. He started as Saracens won their first Premiership title in 2011. He was a replacement as they won further titles in 2015 and 2016. He retired in 2017.

References

External links

Saracens profile

Guinness Premiership profile

scrum.com Profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:De Kock, Neil 1978 births Living people Afrikaner people Rugby union players from Cape Town South African people of Dutch descent Rugby union scrum-halves South African rugby union players South Africa international rugby union players Saracens F.C. players Western Province (rugby union) players Stormers players South African expatriate rugby union players in England 2003 Rugby World Cup players 21st-century South African sportsmen