Dan du Preez

Daniel du Preez (born 5 August 1995 in Durban, South Africa) is a South African rugby union player for the Sale Sharks in the English Premiership.^[1] His usual position is number eight, but he can also play as a lock or flanker.

Du Preez was selected in a number of KwaZulu-Natal youth squads whilst still at school. At primary school level, he was selected for their squad that played at the 2008 Under-13 Craven Week competition. He also played in the premier schools competition in South Africa – the Under-18 Craven Week in three different seasons; he made two appearances at the 2011 event in Kimberley, three appearances at the 2012 event in Port Elizabeth – scoring a try in their match against the Free State^[2] – and a further three appearances in 2013, scoring a try against Border.^[3]

In both 2012 and 2013, Du Preez was selected to represent a South African Schools team. In 2012, he played in their matches against France^[4] and Wales^[5] and in 2013 he made appearances against England^[6] and Wales.^[7]

He recovered from an injury that kept him out of the 2014 IRB Junior World Championship to play a key part in the Sharks U19 side that played in the 2014 Under-19 Provincial Championship, making eleven appearances and scoring tries in their matches against Eastern Province U19^[8] and Free State U19^[9] to help them qualify for the semi-finals, where they lost 20–43 to the Blue Bulls U19.^[10]

In 2015, despite not having featured at senior provincial level for the Sharks, Du Preez was included on the bench for the Sharks' Round Five Super Rugby match against the Cheetahs.^[11] He made his Super Rugby debut in the Sharks' 27–10 victory, coming on for the final ten minutes of the match.^[12]

In 2014, he was selected in the South Africa Under-20 squad to play at the 2014 IRB Junior World Championship, but an injury ruled him out of the competition and was replaced by Jacques Vermeulen.^[13]

In March 2015, Du Preez was named in an extended South Africa Under-20 training group as part of their preparation for the 2015 World Rugby Under 20 Championship.^[14] He featured for them in a friendly match against a Varsity Cup Dream Team in April 2015.^[15] In May 2015, he was included in the South Africa Under-20 squad that toured Argentina.^[16] He started both of their tour matches,^[17][18] scoring a try in the 25–22 victory in the first encounter and was then included in the final squad for the 2015 World Rugby Under 20 Championship.^[19]

He played off the bench in the first of their three matches in Pool B of the competition, a 33–5 win against hosts Italy,^[20] started their 40–8 win against Samoa^[21] and again came on as a replacement in their 46–13 win over Australia^[22] 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. Du Preez came on in the second half of 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] and started their third-place play-off match against France, scoring two tries in the match to help South Africa to a 31–18 win to secure third place in the competition.^[24]

Du Preez's father Robert is a former Springbok scrum-half that made seven appearances for South Africa between 1992 and 1993.^[25]

He has an older brother – also called Robert – and a twin brother Jean-Luc. Both of them also represented the South Africa Under-20 side at the IRB Junior World Championship, in 2013 and 2014 respectively.^[26]