Willie le Roux
Willem Jacubos le Roux is a South African rugby union player. He is a versatile back-line player who generally plays as a fullback or wing, though earlier in his career he played mostly as a fly-half. He plays for the South Africa national team and for Toyota Verblitz in the Top League. He was born in Stellenbosch.
Club career
Le Roux was born and raised in the Western Cape and he started his professional career with. He spent 2 years with the Cavaliers, helping them to lift the 2011 Currie Cup First Division title in his final appearance. He moved north to join the along with several of his Boland team-mates in 2012 and started 9 of the Peacock Blues 10 games during his debut season in Kimberley. After a rocky start in which he was sin-binned for a dangerous tackle on full-back Jurgen Visser and subsequently suspended for Griquas second match of the season Le Roux established himself as one of the top players in South African domestic rugby.Upon moving to the in 2012, Le Roux was instantly called up to the Super Rugby squad. He made his debut in Week 1 of the 2012 Super Rugby season as a half-time substitute for Dusty Noble as the Cheetahs lost 25–27 to the in Johannesburg. Despite this early setback Le Roux went on to have an excellent first season
in Super Rugby, playing mostly on the wing he scored 7 tries in 16 appearances. His second season proved even more successful as he helped the Cheetahs reach the play-offs with a further 6 tries in 17 matches.
In July 2013, it was announced that Le Roux had signed a new contract with the until the end of 2015, which also meant that he would play for the domestically from 2014 onwards.
He left the Cheetahs after the 2015 Super Rugby season to spend some time playing in Japan with Canon Eagles before joining the for 2016.
In August 2016, English Premiership side Wasps announced Le Roux would join them in January 2017 after finishing his commitments with the Canon Eagles. He left Wasps in 2019 having played 46 games and scoring 50 points.
On 5 May 2019 Roux returned to Japan to sign for Toyota Verblitz in the Top League from the 2019-20 season.
International career
Roux was selected to represent the Springboks for the first time during the South African Quadrangular tournament of 2013 against, and. He played the full 80 minutes of all three test matches against these teams with distinction, hardly faltering any time at full-back, and contributed to the try-making by joining the Springbok backline in sprints for the opponents' tryline.He also played an integral part in South Africa's 2013 Rugby Championship campaign, featuring in all six matches. He scored tries in both home and away tests against and in the deciding game at home to.
Le Roux started the 2013 end-of-year tests on the bench for the match against, however an injury to starting fly-half Morne Steyn saw him enter to the fray as an early substitute in the
full-back position. It was a position he was to retain for the remaining two tour matches. He turned in a particularly impressive display in the 28-0 destruction of scoring one intercept try and setting up another immediately from the restart for team-mate JP Pietersen.
On 14 June 2014, Le Roux produced a man-of-the-match performance to help beat during the 2014 incoming tours, scoring a try and providing three assists.
In 2014, he was one of five nominees for the IRB Player of the Year award.
Le Roux was named in South Africa's squad for the 2019 Rugby World Cup. South Africa went on to win the tournament, defeating England in the final.
Springbok statistics
Test Match Record
| Against | P | W | D | L | Tri | Pts | %Won |
| 9 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 5 | ||
| 8 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 10 | ||
| 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 10 | ||
| 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 11 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 3 | 15 | ||
| 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 10 | ||
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 10 | ||
| Total | 61 | 40 | 1 | 20 | 12 | 60 |
Pld = Games Played, W = Games Won, D = Games Drawn, L = Games Lost, Tri = Tries Scored, Con = Conversions, Pen = Penalties, DG = Drop Goals, Pts = Points Scored
International Tries
| Try | Opposing team | Location | Venue | Competition | Date | Result |
| 1 | Brisbane, Australia | Suncorp Stadium | Rugby Championship | 7 September 2013 | Won 38-12 | |
| 2 | Cape Town, South Africa | Newlands | Rugby Championship | 28 September 2013 | Won 28-8 | |
| 3 | Johannesburg, South Africa | Ellis Park | Rugby Championship | 5 October 2013 | Lost 27-38 | |
| 4 | Edinburgh, Scotland | Murrayfield | End-of-year rugby test series | 17 November 2013 | Won 28-0 | |
| 5 | Durban, South Africa | Kings Park | Mid-year rugby test series | 14 June 2014 | Won 38-16 | |
| 6 | Nelspruit, South Africa | Mbombela Stadium | Mid-year rugby test series | 21 June 2014 | Won 31-30 | |
| 7 | Port Elizabeth, South Africa | Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium | Mid-year rugby test series | 28 June 2014 | Won 55-6 | |
| 8 | Johannesburg, South Africa | Ellis Park | Rugby Championship | 25 July 2015 | Lost 20-27 | |
| 9 | Durban, South Africa | Kings Park | Rugby Championship | 8 August 2015 | Lost 25-37 | |
| 10 | London, England | Twickenham | End-of-year rugby test series | 12 November 2016 | Lost 21–37 | |
| 11 | Johannesburg, South Africa | Ellis Park | Test match | 9 June 2018 | Won 42–39 | |
| 12 | Wellington, New Zealand | Westpac Stadium | Rugby Championship | 15 September 2018 | Won 36–34 |