Schalk Burger Brits (born 16 May 1981) is a South African former professional

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 last played for the South Africa national team and 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 ...

. He primarily played as a hooker. He was part of the 2019 Rugby World Cup-winning team, and is the oldest player to win a Rugby World Cup, aged 38 years, 170 days.

Personal life

Brits was born in Empangeni,

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN) is a Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the government merged the Zulu people, Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu language, Zulu) and ...

and attended Paul Roos Gymnasium before going to

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 ...

. He married Colinda Wijnants on 29 January 2011 in Greyton, South Africa.

Club career

Western Province

Brits played for the Western Province from 2002 to 2004 and rejoined the Cape franchise from 2006 to 2009.

Stormers

Brits played for 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 ...

for four seasons making 51 appearances for them and managing to score 20 points.

Saracens

Brits made his debut 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 ...

in the season opener against London Irish. He scored his first try for Saracens on 27 September 2009 against

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city, non-metropolitan district and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West England, South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean ...

in a 19–16 win. He scored seven tries in the 2009–10 season and played every minute in the Premiership Final against Leicester Tigers, which Saracens lost 33–27. Brits was voted Players' Player of the year for the 2009–10 season. In the 2010–11 grand final against Leicester, Brits won the ''Man of the Match'' award in a match that Saracens won 22–18. On 27 June 2011, Brits moved back to his former club Stormers on a short-term loan deal. He played as a back rower for the South African side in the

semifinal loss against the

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding ...

as a replacement for Duane Vermeulen. In January 2012, he signed a new deal with the Saracens that kept him at the club for another three seasons. This was later extended, and he remained at Saracens until the end of the 2017–18 season. During his time at Saracens he has won four Premiership titles in 2011, 2015, 2016 and 2018, with Brits featuring in all four finals. He also helped Saracens win the European Champions Cup in 2016 and 2017.

International career

Brits made his international debut against in 2008. He was next called up when he was included in the Springbok squad that toured

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

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

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

during the 2012 end-of-year rugby union internationals. He came on as a substitute in the match against Scotland to earn his fourth cap. He earned his fifth cap in their next match, replacing Adriaan Strauss as they beat England 16–15. Brits returned to international rugby in 2015, coming on as a substitute in South Africa's 2015 Rugby World Cup warm-up match against Argentina, and was then included in South Africa's squad that participated at the

2015 Rugby World Cup The IRB 2015 Rugby World Cup was the eighth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial rugby union world championship. The tournament was hosted by England from 18 September to 31 October. Of the 20 countries competing in the World Cup in 2011, there was ...

. While he didn't feature in their 32–34 loss to in their opening match, he did play off the bench in their next match against , scoring a late try in a 34–16 victory. He was again omitted against before another appearance from the bench in a 64–0 victory over the . He didn't feature in their 23–19 win over in the quarter final, their 18–20 loss to in the semi-finals or the third-place play-off against , which South Africa won 24–13 to secure the bronze medal in the competition. In 2019, Brits was selected to play for at the 2019 Rugby World Cup, aged 38. He was named captain in their match against , playing out of position as an eighth man, and also scored a try in the match. South Africa went on to win the tournament, defeating

in the final.

Honours

Rugby World Cup The Men's Rugby World Cup is a rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams, the winners of which are recognised as the World championship, world champions of the sport. The tournament is administer ...

**Winner:

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

References

External links

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Stormers profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brits, Schalk 1981 births Living people Sportspeople from Empangeni Afrikaner people South African rugby union players South Africa international rugby union players Stormers players Western Province (rugby union) players Saracens F.C. players Golden Lions players Lions (United Rugby Championship) players Rugby union hookers South African expatriate rugby union players in England Alumni of Paul Roos Gymnasium Rugby union players from KwaZulu-Natal Stellenbosch University alumni 2015 Rugby World Cup players 2019 Rugby World Cup players South Africa national rugby union team captains 21st-century South African sportsmen