Jan Hendrik de Beer nicknamed
Jannie, is a
South AfricaThe 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 former
rugby unionRugby 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. He played flyhalf for the South African national team, the
SpringboksThe 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...
. In all he represented the Springboks in 13 tests, scoring 183 points. He stands 1.82 meters tall, and weighs 87 kilograms. He was principally known as a kicking fly-half.
De Beer made his début against the British Lions in 1997, being brought in for the dropped
Henry HoniballHenry William Honiball is a former South African rugby union footballer. He played at fly-half for South Africa during the post-apartheid era, although he was physically and technically acquainted in any back position....
whose running game had been contained by the Lions' defence in the first two of the three tests. He failed however to establish himself properly in the Springbok side.
De Beer is most famous for his world record five
drop goalsA drop kick is a type of kick in various codes of football. It involves a player dropping the ball and then kicking it when it bounces off the ground. It contrasts to a punt, wherein the player kicks the ball without letting it hit the ground first....
in a single test match, set in the 1999 Rugby World Cup in
ParisParis is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
against England. The Springboks won the match 44-21, knocking England out of the tournament. However, his attempts to repeat the tactic in the semi-final versus Australia backfired, as despite several attempts he only scored one in the match, and the Australians closed him down. It proved to be his final appearance for the Springboks.
A professed
ChristianChristianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
, de Beer credits his faith in God for his successes. De Beer retired from professional rugby in 2002 due to a knee injury.
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