Frik du Preez
Encyclopedia
Frederik Christoffel Hendrik "Frik" du Preez (born 28 November 1935 in Rustenburg, South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

) is a former South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

n rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

 player who represented Northern Transvaal
Blue Bulls
The Blue Bulls, for sponsorship reasons known as the Vodacom Blue Bulls, or more popularly by their Afrikaans name die Blou Bulle, are a South African rugby union team that participates in the annual Currie Cup tournament...

 and the Springboks
South Africa national rugby union team
The South African national rugby union team are 2009 British and Irish Lions Series winners. They are currently ranked as the fourth best team in the IRB World Rankings and were named 2008 World Team of the Year at the prestigious Laureus World Sports Awards.Although South Africa was instrumental...

. He was born on a farm near Rustenburg and went to school at the Parys
Parys
Parys is a town situated on the banks of the Vaal River in the Free State province of South Africa. Population 43,791.In the eariy 1870's, towns in the northern Free State were situated very far apart and members of different churches had to travel great distances to participate in religious...

 High School
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....

 in Parys (Orange Free State). Du Preez mostly played in the flank
Flanker (rugby union)
A flanker is a position in the sport of rugby union. Flankers play in the forwards, and are generally classified as either blindside, or openside flankers; numbers six and seven respectively. The name comes from their position in a scrum in which they flank each set of forwards...

 or lock positions.

Du Preez made his test debut for the Springboks on 7 January 1961 in the flank position against England
England national rugby union team
The England national rugby union team represents England in rugby union. They compete in the annual Six Nations Championship with France, Ireland, Scotland, Italy, and Wales. They have won this championship on 26 occasions, 12 times winning the Grand Slam, making them the most successful team in...

 at Twickenham
Twickenham Stadium
Twickenham Stadium is a stadium located in Twickenham, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It is the largest rugby union stadium in the United Kingdom and has recently been enlarged to seat 82,000...

. He played his last test on 7 August 1971 at the age of 35 as a lock against Australia
Australia national rugby union team
The Australian national rugby union team is the representative side of Australia in rugby union. The national team is nicknamed the Wallabies and competes annually with New Zealand and South Africa in the Tri-Nations Series, in which they also contest the Bledisloe Cup with New Zealand and the...

 at the Sydney Cricket Ground
Sydney Cricket Ground
The Sydney Cricket Ground is a sports stadium in Sydney in Australia. It is used for Australian football, Test cricket, One Day International cricket, some rugby league and rugby union matches and is the home ground for the New South Wales Blues cricket team and the Sydney Swans of the Australian...

.

Du Preez was an excellent all-round footballer, and like Australian lock John Eales
John Eales
John Eales AM is an Australian former rugby union player and the most successful captain in the history of Australian rugby.-Early life:...

, he was that rare phenomenon: a lock that could kick and even drop kick. Although he was not particularly tall, he was a tower of strength in the line-out. In addition he had a fantastic turn of speed and fine running skills with ball in hand, as he showed in the try he scored against the British Lions
British and Irish Lions
The British and Irish Lions is a rugby union team made up of players from England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales...

 in 1968.

As expression of the esteem that he is held in by South African rugby fans, Du Preez was named the country's rugby Player of the 20th Century.

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