Morné du Plessis

Morné du Plessis OIS (; born 21 October 1949) is a former South African rugby union player often described as one of the Springboks' most successful captains. During the five years from 1975 to 1980 that he served as captain, the Springboks won 13 of 15 matches, giving Du Plessis an 86.66% success rate as captain. Du Plessis's father, Felix, was also the captain of a Springbok rugby team, and his mother, Pat, captained the South African women's hockey side. Felix and Morné are the only father and son duo so far to have both been Springbok rugby captains, and Morné is the only Springbok captain born to parents both of whom captained national sports sides. Morné du Plessis was appointed manager of the 1995 Springbok team which won the 1995 Rugby World Cup. in Cape Town, and the Bioenergetics of Exercise Research Unit of the University of Cape Town and the Medical Research Council (renamed UCT/MRC Research Unit for Exercise Science and Sports Medicine in 2000).

Du Plessis was born 21 October 1949 in Vereeniging, several sources incorrectly identify Krugersdorp as Du Plessis' town of birth, including the International Rugby Hall of Fame and ESPN Scrum. But in an interview Du Plessis pointed to Vereeniging as his place of birth, and this is confirmed in his profile on the Springboks' official site, and on the South African government's national orders. into a sporting family. His mother, Pat (née Smethurst) captained South Africa's women's national hockey side in 1954. A maternal uncle, Horace, was captain of the national soccer team that toured Australia and New Zealand in 1947. His father, Felix, was born on 24 November 1919 in Steynsburg, in the Cape province. Playing at lock, Felix made his debut for South Africa on 16 July 1949 at Newlands Stadium, Cape Town against the touring All Blacks, led by Fred Allen. His team – which included Springbok greats Tjol Lategan, Hannes Brewis, Okey Geffin, and Hennie Muller – swept the series 3 – 0. Six weeks after the last test, Morné was born. Du Plessis matriculated from Grey College, Bloemfontein in 1966, where he had excelled at cricket more than at rugby. While he was not chosen for the Free State Craven Week side, he was included in the 1966 South African Schools XI as a seam bowler. He first played fly half at school, but was moved to centre to make room for future Springbok Dawie Snyman. Du Plessis lodged at the university's Wilgenhof men's residence. Built in 1903, Wilgenhof is not only the oldest university men's residence in South Africa, but also once housed the future Springbok and South African rugby administrator Danie Craven himself – both as a student, and as administrator. Craven was the resident principal of Wilgenhof during the period that Du Plessis lived there. At Stellenbosch Du Plessis was initially more interested in cricket than rugby; he had chosen to go there because of his desire to play in the university cricket team. But when Barry Richards, opening batsman of the South African and of the Natal cricket sides, hit Du Plessis for two sixes in the final over before lunch during a Castle Cup match between Western Province and Natal, he decided that perhaps he should rather concentrate on rugby. Despite Du Plessis' frame, coach Craven considered him too small to be a lock, and moved him to eighthman. Du Plessis was selected to the Western Province rugby team in 1971, and eventually appointed captain. His 103 matches as captain for Province is still a record today. Noted for being outspoken by Craven, Du Plessis was soon in trouble with South Africa's rugby administration for wearing denim trousers with his Springbok blazer. His liberal views, in which he was influenced by Frederik van Zyl Slabbert, and his subsequent support for the Progressive Federal Party, also ran afoul of the conservative politics of rugby administrators. Nor was Du Plessis a stranger to controversial incidents during his domestic and international career. In the 1975 Springbok trials prior to the French tour, Du Plessis punched Kleintjie Grobler, knocking out the man that a journalist later described as "pesky" and an "enforcer". Du Plessis and Grobler then played together on the national team against the Tricoleres that year. But probably the most notable incident involved Naas Botha, whom Du Plessis injured with a bone crunching late tackle in the 1977 Currie Cup semifinal between Province and Northern Transvaal. The subsequent penalty kick by full back Pierre Edwards was successful, and Province lost the match 17–15. The Loftus Versfeld faithful was so incensed that Du Plessis had to be escorted off the field by the police. In 1974 the Springboks faced the touring British Lions, who swept through South Africa without a loss. Winning 19 of their 20 matches on South African soil (plus one in Namibia and another in Rhodesia), the Lions drew only in the last test match, 13 all. Along the way they smashed the hapless South Western Districts 97–0 at the Van Riebeeck Ground, with J. J. Williams scoring 6 tries, and Alan Old converting 15 times. Du Plessis played in the first two tests (8th man and flank) and was dropped for the third. The series was noted for the selectors' use of 33 players in an attempt to stem the British tide – only three men played in all four tests, namely Hannes Marais, Jan Ellis and right wing, Chris Pope. and led the team on the 1980 South Africa rugby union tour of South America in October although an injury sustained in a Currie Cup match restricted him to just two matches, including only one of the internationals against the South American Jaguars. Du Plessis's sudden decision to stop playing rugby before the 1981 tour to New Zealand was motivated by a combination of mental fatigue and the death of his Western Province teammate, full back Chris Burger in a Currie Cup match. Playing under Du Plessis' leadership against Free State at Bloemfontein in 1980, 28 year old Burger died after incurring a neck injury, sustained either while being tackled by two players or during the subsequent loose scrum. Craven tried to convince Du Plessis to continue playing, and remained convinced that if Du Plessis had made himself available for the tour, South Africa would have won the series. He was elected a member of the Laureus World Sports Academy, and appointed chair of the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation (South Africa). Wellington Lions loose forward Du'Plessis Kirifi is named after Du Plessis.

Du Plessis was nominated as South Africa's Rugby Player of the Year in 1976, 1977, 1979 and 1980. and in 2006 into the South African Sports and Arts Hall of Fame. In 2007 Du Plessis was awarded the Order of Ikhamanga in Silver from the South African Government for "excellent achievement in rugby and promoting the use of sport for social change".

Du Plessis is married and has two sons and a daughter. He still runs or cycles daily and plays golf regularly.

Du Plessis was first involved in marketing sports goods, and then established Sports Plan (Pty) Ltd to develop "top quality sports, service and medical facilities". Sports Plan was absorbed into Sail (Pty) Ltd, and Du Plessis became a director in the Sail Group (rebranded MARC Group Ltd.). Sail specializes in "high performance management event creation and ownership, rights commercialization". The MARC Group owns 50% of the Blue Bulls Company, and 24.9% of both Western Province Rugby and Griffons Rugby. Sail also manages the Sports Science Institute. Initially involved with the Stade de France company in developing and managing Cape Town Stadium for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Sail withdrew from the project in 2010. Du Plessis, then the Executive Chair of the Sail de Stade Operating Company, explained that the creation of the stadium did not make financial sense for the group's shareholders. He emphasized that the stadium was an asset and a "' brilliant facility' ", and although the costs of managing the stadium were significant, they should not pose an insurmountable problem for the City of Cape Town.