JJ Engelbrecht

JJ Engelbrecht

Personal information
Full name	Johannes Jacobus Engelbrecht
Born	22 February 1989 Port Elizabeth, South Africa
Height	1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)
Weight	95 kg (14 st 13 lb)
School(s) attended	Grey High School
University	Stellenbosch University
Club information
Playing position	Outside Centre / Wing
Current club	Ospreys
Youth career
2007	Eastern Province Kings
2008–10	Western Province
Amateur team(s)
Years	Team
2009	Maties	2	(15)
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps^†	(Pts)^†
2008–11	Western Province	38	(120)
2011	Stormers	0	(0)
2012–15	Bulls	65	(45)
2012–15	Blue Bulls	15	(0)
2015–16	Toyota Industries Shuttles	2	(0)
2016–	Ospreys	0	(0)
Representative team(s)^‡
2012–13	South Africa	12	(20)
2015	World XV	1	(0)
* Senior club appearances and points correct as of 13 June 2015. † Appearances (Points). ‡ Representative team caps and points correct as of 18 November 2013.

Johannes Jacobus Engelbrecht (born 22 February 1989 in Port Elizabeth) is a South African rugby union footballer who plays as a wing or outside centre for the Ospreys in the Pro12 competition.^[1][2]

Rugby career

Youth

Engelbrecht attended Grey High School in the Eastern Cape until 2007, where he also played rugby for their first XV rugby team, alongside fellow future professional Tim Whitehead.^[3] He also earned a call-up to represent Eastern Province at the premium high school rugby union competition – the Under-18 Craven Week – held in Stellenbosch in 2007.

Western Province / Blue Bulls

After finishing high school, Engelbrecht moved to Cape Town to join the Western Province academy. He represented them in the domestic Currie Cup and Vodacom Cup competitions between 2009 and 2011, before joining team-mates Johann Sadie and Lionel Cronjé in making the move to Pretoria to join the Blue Bulls ahead of the 2012 season.^[4] He established himself in the Bulls Super Rugby team during the 2012 Super Rugby season, scoring three tries in seventeen appearances in the competition. He broke into the national team and signed a contract extension in June 2013 to keep him at the Blue Bulls until 2016.^[5]

Toyota Industries Shuttles

After the 2015 Super Rugby season, Engelbrecht joined Japanese Top League side Toyota Industries Shuttles for the 2015–16 season.^[6]

Ospreys

In January 2016, the Bulls released him from his contract^[7] to join Welsh Pro12 side Ospreys for the remainder of the 2016–17 season.^[8]

Representative rugby

He made his debut for South Africa on 18 August 2012 against Argentina, coming on as a 70th-minute substitute.^[9] He made a further eleven appearances for the Springboks during 2013 and was offered a core contract by the Springboks for 2014,^[10] but failed to feature in any matches for the national team.

He also missed out on selection for the 2015 Rugby World Cup, but did play in a match for a World XV against a South Africa XV in a warm-up match prior to the tournament.^[11]

References

1. "SA Rugby player profile". South Africa Rugby Union. 9 Oct 2012. Retrieved 9 Oct 2012.
2. "Bulls player profile". Bulls. Retrieved 9 Oct 2012.
3. "Insider: JJ Engelbrecht". SuperSport. 21 June 2013. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
4. "Bulls sign WP duo". Sport24. 8 Jul 2011. Retrieved 9 Oct 2012.
5. "Young stars extend Bulls stay". Sport24. 20 June 2013. Retrieved 21 June 2013.
6. "2015年度新加入選手（追加）のお知らせ" (Press release) (in Japanese). Toyota Industries Shuttles. 22 June 2015. Retrieved 22 June 2015.
7. "Engelbrecht off to Wales" (Press release). Bulls. 14 January 2016. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
8. "Ospreys secure Springbok" (Press release). Ospreys. 14 January 2016. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
9. "South Africa 27-6 Argentina". South African Rugby Union. 18 August 2012. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
10. "Seven players added to Springbok contract group". South African Rugby Union. 24 January 2014. Retrieved 24 January 2014.
11. "Springboks 46-10 World XV". South African Rugby Union. 11 July 2015. Retrieved 18 January 2016.