Willem Schalk Alberts (born 11 May 1984) 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 played for in the Vodacom

United Rugby Championship 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 ...

competition. He previously played for the 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 ...

and for the and 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 ...

before joining . At the end of January 2020, Alberts confirmed his move back to his roots to rejoin the , in order to help them with their

campaign. He was schooled at Hoërskool Monument in

Krugersdorp Krugersdorp (Afrikaans for ''Kruger's Town'') is a mining city in the West Rand, Gauteng Province, South Africa founded in 1887 by Marthinus Pretorius and Abner Cohen. Following the discovery of gold on the Witwatersrand, a need arose for a ...

Career

Alberts made his professional debut for the

Golden Lions The Golden Lions (), currently known as the Fidelity ADT Golden Lions for sponsorship reasons, are a South African professional rugby union team based in Johannesburg who compete in the annual Currie Cup. The team is governed by the Golden ...

in 2007. In that same year he was awarded his debut in the Super 14, playing against the Waratahs. He moved to the Sharks in 2010. In October 2010, Willem was selected to 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 ...

squad of 39 players to prepare for the November tour of

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. He is known for his punishing runs (often requiring more than one tackler to stop him) and his rock solid defence. Due to his colossal mass (120 kg) Alberts' bruising runs and bone-crunching tackling, that often constitute "big hits", have made him a crowd favorite and earned him a large following. During the

2010 Currie Cup 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

semi-final against the Vodacom Blue Bulls Alberts was awarded "Man-of-the-Match" after he put in a solid performance consisting of 21 ball carries gaining 144 metres. It is after a string of monumental performances for the Sharks that Alberts was named as part of the Springbok squad ahead of the 2010 Northern Hemisphere grand slam tour. Alberts made his debut for South Africa off the bench on 13 November 2010 and scored a try against

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. Many believe that Alberts' impact was so great off the bench that he alone swung the game in the Boks favor and pulled them through. He won his second Springbok cap 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 ...

, when he once again came on off the bench and scored a powerful try after plucking the ball from the air in a line out and driving over the whitewash. However, his exploits were not enough and the Boks lost the game. His third cap came the following weekend against

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 ...

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 ...

. Alberts would come onto the field once more in the number 19 jersey and would score another try, this time in the corner which buried the English side and Alberts was branded "Super Sub". Willem Alberts made his run on debut against 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 ...

at Twickenham in the unfamiliar open side flanker berth. Although he did not score a try the test did not count as an official cap and Alberts returned to South Africa with a 100% try scoring record on his debut tour.

2011 season

Alberts played in all eighteen of the Sharks matches in the

2011 Super Rugby season The 2011 Super Rugby season was the first season of the new 15-team format for the Super Rugby competition, which involved teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Including its past iterations as Super 12 and Super 14, this was the 16t ...

. He won his first "Man-of-the-Match" award in the Super Rugby competition for the Sharks for his performance against the

Cheetahs The cheetah (''Acinonyx jubatus'') is a large cat and the fastest land animal. It has a tawny to creamy white or pale buff fur that is marked with evenly spaced, solid black spots. The head is small and rounded, with a short snout and blac ...

. He also scored his first Super Rugby try for the Sharks against the

Western Force The Western Force is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Perth, Western Australia, currently competing in Super Rugby, Super Rugby Pacific. They previously played in Super Rugby from 2006 until they were axed from the competitio ...

in a bonus point win for the Sharks. He went on to score another try 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 ...

in a historic match held at Twickenham. He won another man of the match award against the Lions, making an impressive 18 ball carries. Alberts is the Sharks' leading tackler in their 2011 Super Rugby campaign with an average of 10 tackles per match and is the third highest in the entire tournament with 58. Against the

Hurricanes A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system with a low-pressure area, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depending on its locat ...

he made an imperious 23 tackles, and in such form has made him a big name in South African rugby. Alberts made his starting capped debut for the Springboks against the All Blacks in Port Elizabeth on 10 August 2011 in the number 7 jersey. Alberts showed his grunt with 13 tackles and bruised his way into

Peter de Villiers Peter de Villiers (born 3 June 1957) is a South African professional rugby union coach and former Good Party politician. He was coach of the South Africa national rugby union team from 2008 to 2011, after successes with the South African U19 ...

' World Cup plans.

2012 season

Alberts started against England which South Africa won 22–17. He also scored a try in the second test which South Africa won 36–27. The Springboks wrapped up the series in that win. He was injured and out for the final test which South Africa held to a 14–14 draw against England. Potgieter replaced Alberts at blindside flanker. Alberts has a good future after South Africa won the series against England in which Alberts was a big performer.

Early life

Alberts was one of the seven-year-old children selected in 1992 to appear in 7 Up in South Africa, the South African version of the

Up series The ''Up'' series of documentary films follows the lives of ten boys and four girls in England, beginning in 1964, when they were seven years old. The first film was titled ''Seven Up!'', with later films adjusting the number in the title to m ...

. He has appeared in the documentary every 7 years since then, and has covered aspects of his life including his early life on a farm, the death of his father in a car accident and his family's subsequent move to the city.

References

External links

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ZimbioSharks Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alberts, Willem 1984 births Alumni of Hoërskool Monument Living people Afrikaner people Golden Lions players Lions (United Rugby Championship) players Rugby union flankers Rugby union locks Rugby union number eights Rugby union players from Pretoria Sharks (Currie Cup) players Sharks (rugby union) players South Africa international rugby union players South African rugby union players Stade Français Paris players University of Pretoria alumni 2011 Rugby World Cup players 2015 Rugby World Cup players South African expatriate rugby union players in France 21st-century South African sportsmen