Raymond Herman Mordt ( ); born 15 February 1957) is a Zimbabwean/South African

rugby football Rugby football is the collective name for the team sports of rugby union or rugby league. Rugby football started at Rugby School in Rugby, Warwickshire, England, where the rules were first codified in 1845. Forms of football in which the ball ...

er who represented his country in

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 ...

before moving to English professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

club,

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...

, with whom he won the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

during the 1986–87 season. He is the uncle of England Sevens player Nils Mordt.

Playing career

Rugby union

Mordt grew up and started playing rugby in

Rhodesia Rhodesia ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state, unrecognised state in Southern Africa that existed from 1965 to 1979. Rhodesia served as the ''de facto'' Succession of states, successor state to the ...

(now

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

). He went to Churchill High School in Salisbury. He played Wing for the

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 ...

where he captained the team 3 times (twice as a substitute) from 1980 until 1984. He made his début against the

South American Jaguars South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz' ...

on 26 April 1980 at the

Wanderers Stadium The Wanderers Stadium, also known as the Bullring due to its intimidating atmosphere, is a cricket stadium situated just south of Sandton in Illovo, Johannesburg in Gauteng, South Africa. Test, One Day and First class cricket matches are ...

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

. South Africa won the game 24–9. As a player, he may be best known for scoring 3 tries against the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks, is the representative men's national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of New Zealand, which is considered the country's national sport. Famed for th ...

in the famous "flour bomb" Test at

Eden Park Eden Park is a sports venue in Auckland, New Zealand. It is located three kilometres southwest of the Auckland CBD, on the boundary between the suburbs of Mount Eden and Kingsland. The main stadium has a nominal capacity of 50,000, and is s ...

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, New Zealand on 12 September 1981. South Africa lost the game 25–22. Ray Mordt played a total of 18 tests (plus 7 tour games) for the Springboks, scoring 12 tries for a total of 48 points. Mordt played

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 for

Transvaal Transvaal is a historical geographic term associated with land north of (''i.e.'', beyond) the Vaal River in South Africa. A number of states and administrative divisions have carried the name ''Transvaal''. * South African Republic (1856–1902; ...

and

Northern Transvaal Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ra ...

and scored 35 career tries.

Test history

Accolades

During his

playing career Mordt was nominated for the SA Rugby Young Player of the Year in 1978 and SA Rugby Player of the Year in 1981, 1983 and 1984.

Rugby league

Mordt joined English

club

, making his début for them on the on 5 January 1986 against Swinton. he scored his first try for Wigan in the 44-6 victory over Hull F.C. at

Central Park Central Park is an urban park between the Upper West Side and Upper East Side neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City, and the first landscaped park in the United States. It is the List of parks in New York City, sixth-largest park in the ...

on Sunday 2 March 1986. He played on the in Wigan's 11-8 victory over

Hull Kingston Rovers Hull Kingston Rovers (often abbreviated to Hull KR) are a professional rugby league club based in Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, England. The club play home games at Craven Park, Hull, Craven Park and compete in Super League, the top tier of B ...

in the 1985–86 John Player Special Trophy Final at

Elland Road Elland Road, or Elland Road Stadium, is a football stadium in Beeston, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, which has been the Home (sports), home of Leeds United F.C., Leeds United since the club's formation in 1919. The stadium is the List of foot ...

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

on Saturday 11 January 1986, and was also part of the

-winning team during the 1986–87 season. He scored his last try for Wigan in the 54-2 victory over

Oldham Oldham is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amongst the Pennines on elevated ground between the rivers River Irk, Irk and River Medlock, Medlock, southeast of Rochdale, and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative cent ...

on Wednesday 8 April 1987, he played his last match for Wigan in the 24-6 victory over

Watersheddings Watersheddings was the site of a former rugby league stadium in the Watersheddings area of Oldham in Greater Manchester, England. Historically it was in Lancashire, lying on the A672 ( Ripponden Road) approximately 2 miles north east of Old ...

on Monday 20 April 1987, before retiring due to injury.

Baseball

Mordt also represented Rhodesia in the 1978 inter-provincial tournament in Durban, South Africa.

Coaching career

After his active career Mordt has been engaged as a coach for the Springboks and other teams. In 1994 The International Rugby Board barred Mordt from joining South Africa's tour of Wales, Scotland and Ireland as a fitness instructor because of his time spent playing rugby league. As a coach Mordt has won the Currie Cup in

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

, coaching Transvaal. He was also a crucial cog in the

1995 Rugby World Cup The 1995 Rugby World Cup (), was the third Rugby World Cup. It was hosted and won by South Africa, and was the first Rugby World Cup in which every match was held in one country. The World Cup was the first major sporting event to take place in ...

-winning coaching set-up of

Kitch Christie George Moir Christie, better known as Kitch Christie (31 January 1940 – 22 April 1998), was a South African rugby union coach best known for coaching the country's national team, the Springboks, to victory at the 1995 Rugby World Cup. He rem ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mordt, Ray 1957 births Living people 20th-century South African sportsmen Rhodesian rugby union players Rugby league players from the Western Cape Rugby league wingers Rugby union players from Cape Town Rugby union wings South Africa international rugby union players South African emigrants to Rhodesia South African people of German descent South African rugby league players South African rugby union coaches South African rugby union players Wigan Warriors players Golden Lions players Blue Bulls players