Wimpie van der Walt


Petrus Willem van der Walt is a South African-born Japanese rugby union player, currently playing with NTT DoCoMo Red Hurricanes in the Japanese Top League. His regular position is lock or flanker.

Career

Youth

Van der Walt represented the at the 2006 and 2007 Craven Week tournaments. He then joined and represented them at Under-19 and Under-21 levels between 2008 and 2010. He was also included in the squad for the 2010 Varsity Cup, but never made an appearance.

Western Province

He made his first team debut for in a Vodacom Cup match on 27 February 2010 against. and made his Currie Cup debut the following year against. In total, he made fifteen Vodacom Cup and two Currie Cup appearances for.

San Gregorio

In October 2011, he joined Italian National Championship of Excellence team San Gregorio and made sixteen appearances for them in the 2011–2012 season, but could not help stop them from finishing last in the table and getting relegated to Serie A1 in 2012–13.

Eastern Province Kings

He returned to South Africa a few months later and joined for the 2012 Currie Cup First Division season. He made his debut on 30 July 2012 in the opening game of the season against.

Southern Kings

He was named in the squad for the 2013 Super Rugby season. He made his debut in the first match of the season against the and quickly established himself as a first team regular, starting the fifteen out of the sixteen matches that season.
He scored his first try for the Kings in their defeat to the in Christchurch. He also scored a try in the Kings' dramatic 28–28 draw against the, as well as a week later, when he scored a late try against the . He also scored in the 19–11 defeat to the and got two tries the following week against the to become the Kings' leading try-scorer for the season with six tries.

NTT Docomo Red Hurricanes

He signed for Japanese Top League side NTT Docomo Red Hurricanes for the 2013–14 season, scoring two tries in 13 appearances.

Bulls

He returned to South Africa following the conclusion of the 2013–14 Top League and joined the on a two-month contract during the 2014 Super Rugby season.