Corné Krige

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Cornelius Petrus Johannes "Corné" Krige (born 21 March 1975 in Lusaka, Zambia) is a South African rugby union footballer who played flanker for Western Province in the Currie Cup, the Stormers in Super Rugby and the South African national side, the Springboks.

Born in Zambia, where his parents still reside today, he was schooled in South Africa at Paarl Boys' High School. As the name suggests, it is situated in Paarl, about 60km out of Cape Town.

Krige's Test debut came in 1999 after recovering from career-threatening knee and hand injuries. A natural leader, he captained the Springboks on his test debut in a 101-0 victory over Italy in Durban; unfortunately two weeks later he suffered another serious knee injury against the All Blacks in Dunedin which ended his hopes of captaining the Springboks at the 1999 Rugby World Cup in Wales. Krige appeared in 39 tests for South Africa, became the full-time captain in 2002,[1] and captained the Boks 18 times in all[2] before his international retirement in January 2004.[1]

Never one to shy away from physical action on the pitch, he was the subject of controversy after the November 2002 Test against England at Twickenham that saw England hand the Boks the worst defeat in their history (53-3). During the match, an increasingly frustrated South Africa side began targeting England players with physical attacks, and match footage apparently showed Krige as a leader.[3] His Super Rugby career also ended several weeks early when he was handed an eight-week ban for head-butting an opponent in 2004, after he had already announced his Super Rugby retirement at the end of that season.[2]

He finished his career in the English Premiership with Northampton Saints, signing for the 2004-05 season.[2] He retired at the end of that season and returned to Cape Town to pursue outside business interests.[4] Krige would make one more high-profile appearance on a rugby field, captaining a Western Province XV against a World XV in his testimonial at Newlands on 9 June 2006. The testimonial benefited Reach For A Dream,[5] a charity similar to and inspired by the Make-A-Wish Foundation in the United States. The World XV won 49-31 in an entertaining match that saw 12 tries in all.[6]

Krige and former Springbok teammates Bob Skinstad and Robbie Fleck are business partners, owning Billie the B.U.M.S. Restaurant and a Cocktail Bar in Newlands.

When the Boks played the Australia Wallabies during the later years of Krige's captaincy, he and Wallabies captain George Gregan shared an unusual distinction: both were born in the same hospital.[7][8]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b "Krige quits Test rugby", BBC, 13 January 2004.
  2. ^ a b c "Saints seal Krige deal", BBC, 26 July 2004.
  3. ^ "Krige in the spotlight", BBC, 28 November 2002.
  4. ^ "Saints star Krige to quit playing", BBC, 10 February 2005.
  5. ^ Dan Nicholl, "Corné's big farewell", iafrica.com, 8 June 2006.
  6. ^ Grant Shub, "World XV triumph, but Krige signs-off in style", SARugby.com, 10 June 2006.
  7. ^ "Captain Courageous: Corné Krige", TheGoal.com, retrieved 26 June 2006.
  8. ^ "Rugby Union World Cup Special Reports: South Africa", The Guardian, 6 October 2003.


[edit] External links


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