All About Sports

Date of Birth:  22/05/1984
Place of Birth: Bethlehem
Position:  Hooker
Height:  1.89m
Weight:  112kg
Club: Jaguars

Bismarck du Plessis (born 22 May 1984) is a South African rugby union player, who plays for South Africa internationally, the Natal Sharks in the domestic Currie Cup, and the Sharks in Super Rugby. A native of the town of Bethlehem in the Free State province, Bismarck du Plessis made his debut for the Sharks in Super Rugby (then the Super 12) in 2005. As he plays hooker and plays in the same team as South Africa's captain, John Smit, for much of his career he has been a backup to Smit; however, this has changed with Smit's recent move to tighthead prop. Before Smit's change of position, du Plessis nonetheless played in Super Rugby and the Currie Cup whenever Smit is unavailable, and in 2007 was selected to play for South Africa in the Tri Nations Series. He made his debut for South Africa as a substitute in the same game against Australia in Sydney in which his older brother, Jannie, who was in the starting XV, also made his Springboks debut. The du Plessis brothers became the 23rd set of brothers to earn caps for South Africa at rugby union.