Reaching different heights
Pieter Rossouw went from Paarl Gim to the Maties to pursue a career in athletics, but ended up becoming a rugby star for his university and, later, a stalwart for his country in the Green & Gold.
Boasting a personal best of 4.80m in pole vault and two metres in high jump, Rossouw was destined for a top-level athletics career.
A back injury forced him out of athletics, however, and he took up the oval ball for his koshuis (Majuba) in 1993 - after a modest rugby career at school - and made his debut for WP merely a year later as fullback in a Lion Cup semifinal at Newlands.
He made his Springbok debut four years later against the British Lions in the second Test in Durban when he replaced André Snyman on the left wing, the latter having moved across to the right to cover for an injured James Small. He retained his position for the third Test in Johannesburg and was voted Man of the Match as he scored his first try for his country.
Later in 1997 he scored four tries against the French as the Boks ran amok in Paris. In 1998 he achieved a hat-trick against Wales in pre-season Test action and then went on to score the winning try against the All Blacks in Tri-Nations action in Wellington.
He was part of the Bok team that reached the semifinals of the 1999 World Cup, scoring a try in their memorable Jannie de Beer-inspired quarterfinal win over England.
He played his 100th match for WP in 2001 and by 2005 had played 249 first-class matches and scored 128 tries. He held the record for the most tries in a season for the Springboks (10); scoring a total of 21 tries in his 43 Test matches
Pieter had a season with London Irish and was selected for the world famous Barbarians in 2002.
Rossouw, now 39, is currently the backline coach of the Blue Bulls and after two years of commuting he now lives in Pretoria.
"Provincially, I am a Blue Bull... but at club level I am still a Matie," Springbok number 144, of the proud Springbok factory in Stellenbosch, told varsitycup.co.za.
Pieter is very positive about the Varsity Cup and calls it "an amazing competition for younger players, filling the very important gap between amateur and professional rugby".
He feels that the competition creates opportunities for players to be noticed by provincial managements and that could lead to contracts and a subsequent career in rugby - no doubt with his own career in his mind!
By Piet de Jager
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