Corné Krige

Corné Krige

Full name	Cornelius Petrus Johannes Krige
Date of birth	March 21, 1975 (1975-03-21) (age 36)
Place of birth	Lusaka, Zambia
Height	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Weight	224 lb (102 kg)
Rugby union career
Playing career
Position	Flanker
Professional / senior clubs
Years	Club / team	Caps	(points)
2004-2005	Northampton Saints	19	(15)
Provincial/State sides
Years	Club / team	Caps	(points)
	Western Province
Super Rugby
Years	Club / team	Caps	(points)
	Stormers
National team(s)
Years	Club / team	Caps	(points)
1999-2003	South Africa	39	(10)

Cornelius Petrus Johannes "Corné" Krige (born 21 March 1975 in Lusaka, Zambia) was a South African^[1] rugby union footballer, now retired, who played flanker for Western Province in the Currie Cup, the Stormers in Super Rugby and captained the South African national side, the Springboks.

Career

Corne Krige was Zambian-born and his parents still reside in that country, but he was schooled in South Africa at Paarl Boys' High School, about 60 km from Cape Town. He played most of his rugby for South African teams, and resides in that country.

Krige's Test debut came in 1999 after recovering from career-threatening knee and hand injuries. He captained the Springboks on his test debut in a 101-0 victory over Italy in Durban; unfortunately two weeks later he suffered another serious knee injury against the All Blacks in Dunedin which ended his hopes of captaining the Springboks at the 1999 Rugby World Cup in Wales. Krige appeared in 39 tests for South Africa, became the full-time captain in 2002,^[2] and captained the Boks 18 times in all^[3] before his international retirement in January 2004.^[2]

Never one to shy away from dirty play, he was the subject of controversy after the November 2002 Test against England at Twickenham that saw England hand the Boks the worst defeat in their history (53-3). During the match, an increasingly frustrated South Africa side began targeting England players with physical off-the-ball attacks, and match footage showed Krige as the leader.^[4] His Super Rugby career then ended several weeks early when he was handed an eight-week ban for head-butting an opponent in 2004.

He finished his career in the English Premiership with Northampton Saints, signing for the 2004-05 season.^[3] He retired at the end of that season and returned to Cape Town to pursue outside business interests.^[5] Krige would make one more high-profile appearance on a rugby field, captaining a Western Province XV against a World XV in his testimonial at Newlands on 9 June 2006. The testimonial highly benefited Reach For A Dream,^[6] a charity similar to and inspired by the Make-A-Wish Foundation in the United States. The World XV won 49-31 in an entertaining match that saw 12 tries in all.^[7]

Krige and former Springbok teammates Bobby Skinstad and Robbie Fleck were business partners, owning Billie the B.U.M.S. Restaurant and a Cocktail Bar in Newlands. The restaurant has since closed.

When the Boks played the Australia Wallabies during the later years of Krige's captaincy, he and Wallabies captain George Gregan shared an unusual distinction: both were born in the same hospital.^[8][9]

References

1. ^ Sports Illustrated: "Corne should have stayed', by Sibongile Maputi. Retrieved 20 June 2007.
2. ^ ^{a b} "Krige quits Test rugby", BBC, 13 January 2004.
3. ^ ^{a b} "Saints seal Krige deal", BBC, 26 July 2004.
4. ^ "Krige in the spotlight", BBC, 28 November 2002.
5. ^ "Saints star Krige to quit playing", BBC, 10 February 2005.
6. ^ Dan Nicholl, "Corné's big farewell", iafrica.com, 8 June 2006.
7. ^ Grant Shub, "World XV triumph, but Krige signs-off in style", SARugby.com, 10 June 2006.
8. ^ "Captain Courageous: Corné Krige", TheGoal.com, retrieved 26 June 2006.
9. ^ "Rugby Union World Cup Special Reports: South Africa", The Guardian, 6 October 2003.

External links

• Corné Krige at SARugby.co.za

Sporting positions
Preceded by Gary Teichmann	Springbok Captain 1999 & 2002-2003	Succeeded by Rassie Erasmus

Persondata
Name	Krige, Corne
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	21 March 1975
Place of birth	Lusaka, Zambia
Date of death
Place of death