Cobus Reinach

Cobus Reinach
	Reinach training in 2021
Full name	Jacobus Meyer Reinach
Date of birth	7 February 1990 (age 34)
Place of birth	Bloemfontein, South Africa
Height	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Weight	85 kg (13 st 5 lb; 187 lb)
School	Grey College, Bloemfontein
Notable relative(s)	Jaco Reinach (father)
Rugby union career
Position(s)
Position(s)	Scrum-Half
Current team	Montpellier
Youth career
2008	Free State Cheetahs
2009–2011	Sharks
Senior career
Years	Team
2011–2017	Sharks XV
2011–2017	Sharks (Currie Cup)
2012–2017	Sharks
2017–2020	Northampton Saints
2020–	Montpellier
	Correct as of 1 November 2023
International career
Years	Team
2014–present	South Africa
	Correct as of 1 November 2023
Men's Rugby union
Representing South Africa
Rugby World Cup

Jacobus Meyer Reinach (born 7 February 1990) is a South African professional rugby union player who plays for the Top 14 side Montpellier and South Africa national team.^[1]^[2]^[3] His playing position is scrum-half and he is the son of former Springbok winger Jaco Reinach.^[4] He was the member of the victorious Springbok team who won at the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan, Yokohama.

Early career

Born and raised in Bloemfontein, Reinach attended the famous rugby school Grey College. He initially played age-level rugby for the Free State, before heading to Durban in 2009 to link up with the Sharks, spending a portion of his club career playing scrum half for SA Home Loans Durban Collegians. ^[1]

Club career

Reinach's first forays into senior rugby came with the Sharks XV in the Vodacom Cup. During the 2011 and 2012 Vodacom Cup competitions he made 17 appearances and scored 3 tries. His good performances at that level saw him promoted to the Sharks Currie Cup squad. He earned his first 2 Currie Cup caps during the 2011 season and over the following 2 campaigns he rotated with the more experienced Charl McLeod for the starting role in the number 9 jersey.^[4] He was a Currie Cup winner in 2013 and a runner up in 2012 with both matched being played against Western Province.^[5]^[6] Following McLeod's departure to Grenoble at the conclusion of the 2014 Super Rugby season, Reinach was left as the undisputed first-choice scrum half for the Sharks.^[7]

At Super Rugby level, Reinach debuted during the 2012 Super Rugby season however, he only made one appearance which amounted to 1 minute of game-time. His performances in tandem with Charl McLeod during the 2012 Currie Cup saw him see much more regular action in 2013 and the two continued their rotation.^[4] 2014 saw him become much more of a regular starter and indeed despite missing 4 matches due to injury, Reinach started all 12 of the regular season matches he was available for and scored 6 tries including a memorable effort in the Sharks first ever win away to the Crusaders in Christchurch.^[8]

On 27 February 2017, it was announced that Reinach would link up with English club Northampton Saints in the Aviva Premiership from the 2017–18 season.^[9]

On 12 June 2020, Reinach officially joined Montpellier in the Top 14 ahead of the 2020–21 season after leaving Northampton.^[10]

International career

Although his father had twice been selected for South African Schools, Reinach never represented his country at any age-group level. However, this did not stop him from making the full Springbok side at the age of only 24. He was called up to the Springbok squad for the 2014 Rugby Championship due to the absence of the injured Fourie du Preez^[11] and when another experienced number 9 in Ruan Pienaar went down injured during the Boks tour of Australasia, Reinach was promoted to back-up scrum-half for the remaining two home games of the competition against Australia and New Zealand. Reinach debuted as a second-half replacement for Francois Hougaard in South Africa's 28–10 win over Australia in Cape Town on 27 September 2014 and played a big role in the Boks bonus point try scored by Jean de Villiers in the final minute.^[12] He got his second taste of international rugby a week later and was again on the winning side as his team earned their first win over the All Blacks since 2011.^[13] On 8 October 2019 Reinach scored a hat-trick in a 66–7 win over Canada at the 2019 Rugby World Cup, the fastest hat-trick in Rugby World Cup History.^[14] South Africa went on to win the tournament, defeating England in the final.^[15]

Springbok statistics

Test Match record

As of 27 November 2023

Against	Pld	W	L	Tri	Pts	%Won
Argentina	5	4	1	1	5	80
Australia	3	2	1	1	5	66.67
British and Irish Lions	1	1	0	0	0	100
Canada	1	1	0	3	15	100
England	1	1	0	1	5	100
Georgia	1	1	0	1	5	100
Ireland	1	0	1	0	0	0
Italy	2	2	0	2	10	100
Namibia	1	1	0	0	0	100
New Zealand	2	1	1	0	0	50
Romania	1	1	0	3	15	100
Wales	1	0	1	0	0	0
Tonga	1	1	0	1	5	100
Total	21	16	5	13	65	76.19

Pld = Games Played, W = Games Won, D = Games Drawn, L = Games Lost, Tri = Tries Scored, Con = Conversions, Pen = Penalties, DG = Drop Goals, Pts = Points Scored

International Tries

As of 19 Sept 2023

Try	Opposing team	Location	Venue	Competition	Date	Result
1	England	London, England	Twickenham Stadium	End-of-year rugby union test series	15 November 2014	Won 31–28
2	Italy	Padua, Italy	Stadio Euganeo	End-of-year rugby union test series	22 November 2014	Won 22–6
3	Australia	Johannesburg, South Africa	Ellis Park	2019 Rugby Championship	20 July 2019	Won 35–17
4	Canada	Kobe, Japan	Kobe Misaki Stadium	2019 Rugby World Cup	8 October 2019	Won 66–7
5
6
7	Georgia	Pretoria, South Africa	Loftus Versfeld	Test match	2 July 2021	Won 40–9
8	Argentina	Port Elizabeth, South Africa	Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium	2021 Rugby Championship	14 August 2021	Won 32–12
9	Italy	Genoa, Italy	Stadio Luigi Ferraris	2022 Autumn Nations Series	19 November 2022	Won 63–21
10	Romania	Bordeaux, France	Nouveau Stade de Bordeaux	2023 Rugby World Cup	17 September 2023	Won 76–0
11
12
13	Tonga	Marseille, France	Stade Vélodrome	2023 Rugby World Cup	1 October 2023	Won 49–18