SF Nieuwoudt

Stephanus Francois Nieuwoudt (born (1996-08-27)27 August 1996 in Port Elizabeth, South Africa) is a South African rugby union player, currently playing with the Eastern Province Kings.^[1] He usually plays as a flanker.

Rugby career

Youth rugby

Nieuwoudt attended Hoërskool Framesby, where he also played rugby for the first team. In 2014, he was selected to represent his local provincial union, Eastern Province, at the Under-18 Craven Week competition held in Middelburg.^[2] He started in their wins over the Blue Bulls^[3] and Free State^[4] in their first two matches to help Eastern Province qualify to play in the final match of the competition against SWD. He also started their final match and scored a try shortly after half-time in a 25–7 victory^[5] as Eastern Province were crowned unofficial Craven Week champions for the first time in twenty years.

In 2015, Nieuwoudt joined the Eastern Province academy and he was included in the Eastern Province U19 squad that participated in Group A of the Under-19 Provincial Championship. He immediately established himself as a regular for the team, eventually starting all of their matches in the competition. The team started the season in fine form, winning the first ten matches in a row. Nieuwoudt scored tries in their matches against Sharks U19,^[6] Golden Lions U19^[7] and Leopards U19^[8] during this run, before scoring two tries in their match against Blue Bulls U19 in their only defeat of the regular season, as they lost 26–49 in Pretoria.^[9] He scored one more try in their final match of the regular season, as they bounced back to beat Western Province U19 23–6^[10] to finish top of the log to secure a home semi-final.^[11] Nieuwoudt started both their 31–15 semi-final victory over Free State U19^[12] and the final, in which Eastern Province beat the Blue Bulls 25–23 in Johannesburg^[13] to win the title for the first time in their history.^[14] Nieuwoudt's six tries was the joint-second most by an Eastern Province player behind Junior Pokomela's eight.^[15]

2016–present : Eastern Province Kings

At the start of 2016, Nieuwoudt was included in the NMMU Madibaz squad that participated in the 2016 Varsity Cup tournament. He made three appearances in a disappointing season for NMMU as they finish second-last in the competition,^[16] scoring one try in their 46–33 victory over UCT Ikey Tigers.^[17]

In March 2016, Nieuwoudt was included in a 56-man South Africa Under-20 training squad as the team prepared for the 2016 World Rugby Under 20 Championship,^[18] but was not named in a 36-man provisional squad named a week later.^[19]

Serious financial problems at the Eastern Province Kings at the end of 2015 saw a number of first team regulars leave the union^[20] and Nieuwoudt was among a number of youngsters that were promoted to the squad that competed in the 2016 Currie Cup qualification series.^[21] He was named on the bench for their first match of the season against the SWD Eagles^[22] and came on as a replacement in the 54th minutes of a 14–37 defeat to make his first class debut.^[23] He made two more appearances off the bench before making his first senior start on 30 April 2016 against Namibian side the Welwitschias in Windhoek. In addition to making his first senior start, Nieuwoudt also took less than ten minutes to score his first try in first class rugby as the Eastern Province Kings won the match 31–18.^[24]

References