Pieter de Villiers (rugby player)
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Pieter De Villiers (born 3 July 1972 in Malmesbury, South Africa) is a French rugby union footabller, currently playing for Stade Français in the Top 14 club competition in France. His usual position is at prop. He has played for France, and has represented them at the Rugby World Cup.
De Villers made his debut for France in 1999, on August 28 in a test match against Wales in Cardiff, just prior to the start of the 1999 Rugby World Cup in Wales. Despite only having the one international cap, De Villers was included in France's World Cup squad. He did not play in any of the pool matches but was an unused bench replacement in pool matches against Fiji and Canada. He then came on as a replacement in the quarter final win over Argentina. He also played in the subsequent famous semi-final victory over the All Blacks. France made it thrtough to the final, where they met the Wallabies. Australia won 35 to 12.
De Villiers was selected in France's 2000 Six Nations Championship squad, and played in all of France's five matches during the tournament. He also earnt another two international caps in November of that year, and was in the starting lineup in the second of two tests against the All Blacks. He cemented his position in the starting lineup, where he played all of the 2001 Six Nations Championship games as well as the June and November test matches.
He played for France seven times during 2002. The following season, de Villiers won the Top 14 championship with Stade Français, defeating Stade Toulousain 32 points to 18 in the final. He played two tests against Argentina and one against the All Blacks in June of 2003, but did not play at the 2003 Rugby World Cup in Australia. Stade Français again made it to the final of the French championship, where they defeated USA Perpignan 38 points to 20, to take the championship. He returned to France's staring lineup fulltime by the 2004 Six Nations Championship, as well as playing another three test matches later in the year. He earnt 10 international caps for France in 2005, as well as that, Stade Français were finalists at the 2004-05 Heineken Cup and French championship, thouugh they lost both. The following season, won the 2006 Six Nations Championship with France.
[edit] External links
- Pieter De Villiers on sporting-heroes.net
- Pieter De Villiers on statistics.scrum.com
- Pieter De Villiers on lequipe.fr