Ox Nché

Ox Nché
Personal information
Full name Retshegofaditswe Nché
Born (1995-07-23) 23 July 1995
Bloemfontein, South Africa
Height 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Weight 105 kg (16 st 7 lb)
School(s) attended HTS Louis Botha
University University of the Free State
Club information
Playing position Prop
Current club Free State Cheetahs
Youth career
Years Team
2011– Free State Cheetahs
Amateur team(s)
Years Team
2015– UFS Shimlas 8 (0)
Representative team(s)‡
Years Team
2012–13 S.A. Schools 3 (0)
2015– S.A. Under-20 5 (5)

* Senior club appearances and points correct as of 22 June 2015.
† Appearances (Points).

‡ Representative team caps and points correct as of 22 June 2015.

Retshegofaditswe 'Tshego' Nché – usually referred to as Ox Nché – (born 23 July 1995 in Bloemfontein, South Africa) is a South African rugby union player, currently playing with the Free State Cheetahs.[1] His regular position is prop.

Career

Youth (2011–14)

Nché first earned provincial selection in 2011, when he was included in the Free State squad that participated at the Under-16 Grant Khomo Week in Queenstown.

In 2012, he represented Free State at the premier high school rugby union competition in South Africa – the Under-18 Craven Week competition – held in Port Elizabeth, starting all three of Free State's matches, despite still being in the Under-17 age-group. After the tournament, he was selected in a South African Schools squad that played against France,[2] Wales[3] and England.[4] He was an unused substitute in the first two matches, but started the match against England.

He once again played in all three of Free State's matches at the 2013 Under-18 Craven Week competition held in Polokwane, scoring a try in their opening match against Eastern Province.[5] He was once again included in the South African Schools side in 2013, this time starting two matches against England[6] and Wales.[7] He also made three appearances for the Free State U19s during the 2013 Under-19 Provincial Championship.

He was a key player for the Free State U19 team in the 2014 Under-19 Provincial Championship, starting all thirteen of their matches in the competition as his side finished second on the log before losing 22–29 to eventual champions Western Province U19 in the semi-finals.[8] Nché scored three tries during the round-robin stage of the competition, scoring in their matches against Western Province U19,[9] Eastern Province U19[10] and Golden Lions U19.[11]

Varsity Cup and S.A. Under-20 (2015–)

In 2015, Nché was named in the UFS Shimlas squad for the 2015 Varsity Cup competition. He started the competition as a reserve, playing off the bench on five occasions before being named in the starting line-up for the first time in their final regular season match against NWU Pukke. He retained his starting spot for their 21–10 victory over defending champions UCT Ikey Tigers in the semi-final[12] and also started the final, helping UFS Shimlas to a 63–33 victory against NWU Pukke to win the competition for the first time in their history.[13]

Nché was named in a 37-man South Africa Under-20 training squad[14] and played for them in a 31–24 victory in a friendly match against a Varsity Cup Dream Team that was named at the conclusion of the 2015 Varsity Cup competition.[15] He was then named in their squad to tour Argentina for a two-match series as preparation for the 2015 World Rugby Under 20 Championship.[16] He started their 25–22 victory over Argentina in the first match,[17] but did not feature in their 39–28 win in the second match four days later.[18]

Upon the team's return, he was named in the final squad for the 2015 World Rugby Under 20 Championship.[19] He started all three of their matches in Pool B of the competition; a 33–5 win against hosts Italy,[20] a 40–8 win against Samoa[21] and a 46–13 win over Australia.[22] Nché scored one of six tries in their match against Australia to help South Africa finish top of Pool B to qualify for the semi-finals with the best record pool stage of all the teams in the competition. Nché started their semi-final match against England, but could not prevent them losing 20–28 to be eliminated from the competition by England for the second year in succession.[23] He started their third-place play-off match against France, helping South Africa to a 31–18 win to win the bronze medal.[24]

References

  1. ↑ "SARU Player Profile Ox Nché". South African Rugby Union. Retrieved 22 June 2015.
  2. ↑ "Match Breakdown: South Africa vs France". South African Rugby Union. 10 August 2012. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
  3. ↑ "Match Breakdown: South Africa vs Wales". South African Rugby Union. 14 August 2012. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
  4. ↑ "Match Breakdown: South Africa vs England". South African Rugby Union. 18 August 2012. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
  5. ↑ "Match Breakdown: Eastern Province vs Free State". South African Rugby Union. 9 July 2013. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
  6. ↑ "Match Breakdown: South Africa vs England". South African Rugby Union. 9 August 2013. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
  7. ↑ "Match Breakdown: South Africa vs Wales". South African Rugby Union. 17 August 2013. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
  8. ↑ "Match Breakdown: Free State U19 vs Western Province U19". South African Rugby Union. 18 October 2014. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
  9. ↑ "Match Breakdown: WP U19 vs Free State U19". South African Rugby Union. 12 July 2014. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
  10. ↑ "Match Breakdown: EP Kings U19 vs Free State U19". South African Rugby Union. 22 August 2014. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
  11. ↑ "Match Breakdown: Free State U19 vs Golden Lions U19". South African Rugby Union. 30 August 2014. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
  12. ↑ "Match Breakdown: FNB UFS SHIMLAS vs FNB UCT". South African Rugby Union. 30 March 2015. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
  13. ↑ "Match Breakdown: FNB UFS SHIMLAS vs FNB NWU-PUKKE". South African Rugby Union. 13 April 2015. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
  14. ↑ "SARU names large group for Junior Bok trials". South African Rugby Union. 25 March 2015. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
  15. ↑ "Match Breakdown: Varsity Cup XV vs South Africa U/20". South African Rugby Union. 21 April 2015. Retrieved 21 April 2015.
  16. ↑ "SARU names Junior Bok squad for Argentine tour". South African Rugby Union. 29 April 2015. Retrieved 29 April 2015.
  17. ↑ "Los Pumitas cayeron ante Baby Boks por 25 a 22". Unión Argentina de Rugby (in Spanish). 12 May 2015. Retrieved 21 May 2015.
  18. ↑ "Los Pumitas cayeron ante Baby Boks por 39 a 28". Unión Argentina de Rugby (in Spanish). 16 May 2015. Retrieved 21 May 2015.
  19. ↑ "Liebenberg to lead Junior Boks at U20 World Championship in Italy". South African Rugby Union. 20 May 2015. Retrieved 20 May 2015.
  20. ↑ "Match Breakdown: Italy U20 vs South Africa U20". South African Rugby Union. 2 June 2015. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
  21. ↑ "Match Breakdown: South Africa U20 vs Samoa U20". South African Rugby Union. 6 June 2015. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
  22. ↑ "Match Breakdown: South Africa U20 vs Australia U20". South African Rugby Union. 10 June 2015. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
  23. ↑ "Match Breakdown: South Africa U20 vs England U20". South African Rugby Union. 15 June 2015. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
  24. ↑ "Match Breakdown: France U20 vs South Africa U20". South African Rugby Union. 20 June 2015. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
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