Pieter Rossouw

Pieter Willem Gabriel Rossouw (born 3 December 1971) is a South African former professional rugby player and current coach.

Rossouw played wing for Western Province in the Currie Cup and the Stormers in the Super Rugby competition.

He played a total of 43 times for the Springboks, making him one of the most capped Springbok wingers after South Africa's readmission to international rugby.

He was also one of South Africa's most prolific try-scoring wingers, post-isolation, with only Breyton Paulse(26) and Bryan Habana(53) scoring more tries.

He is 7th on the all-time try-scoring list for the Springboks.

Rossouw is currently the backline coach of the Bulls in Super rugby and the Blue Bulls in the Currie Cup.

He was known as "Slaptjips" (Afrikaans for potato chips or french fries), apparently because the sight of his running legs was like potato chips slapping together.

Pieter is the older brother of Chris Rossouw, who played flyhalf for Western Province and the Free State Cheetahs.

Rossouw was born in Swellendam in 1971.

He went to school in Paarl at Paarl Gimnasium before going to university at the University of Stellenbosch, where he played for the university's rugby team.

Pieter Rossouw made his debut for Western Province in 1994.

In 1996 Rossouw was selected for the Western Province team to compete in the Super 12.

In 1996, Western Province was defeated in the quarter-finals by the Gauteng Lions and did not progress to the semi-finals.

In 1997, South African Rugby has not yet adopted the franchise system, which New Zealand has done.

Instead, the four semi-finalists of the previous year's Currie Cup competition qualified for the Super 12.

Their place in 1997's Super 12 was therefore taken by the Free State Cheetahs.

This meant Pieter Rossouw did not play any Super Rugby in 1997.

Despite not featuring in the Super 12 in 1997, Rossouw was selected for the Springboks to face the touring British and Irish Lions in 1997.

He made his Springbok debut against the Lions in the second test of the tour on 28 June 1997 at Kings Park in Durban.

South Africa lost the game 15-18.

Rossouw was again in the team to face the Lions in the third and final test, when he scored the first of his 21 test tries.

South Africa won 35-16, but lost the test series 2-1.

Rossouw was part of the Springbok team that played in the annual Tri-nations series in 1997.

He was one of the try scorers when South Africa beat Australia with 61 points to 22.

It remains the Springboks' highest score against the Wallabies.

At the end of 1997 the Springboks toured to Europe, playing test matches against Italy, France, England and Scotland.

Pieter Rossouw was a member of this touring squad.

On 22 November 1997 South Africa faced France at the Parc des Princes in Paris, which was the French's last game at the stadium before moving to the Stade de France in Saint-Denis.

The Springboks humiliated France by 52 points to 10.

Rossouw became only the second Springbok in history to score 4 tries in one test.

In 1997, Western Province won the Currie Cup by beating Free State in the final by 14 points to 12 at Newlands in Cape Town.

Rossouw was the left wing for Western Province on the day.

In 1998 South African rugby adopted the franchise system for the Super 12.

New teams were formed located in Pretoria, Durban, Cape Town and Johannesburg.

Cape Town had again a team in the Super 12.

They weren't called Western Province, but the Stormers.

The Stormers were selected from players representing Western Province, Boland and South Western Districts.

This gave Rossouw the opportunity to return to Super Rugby.

The Springboks won the 1998 Tri Nations Series, having not lost a single game.

The away game for the Springboks against the All Blacks took place at Athletic Park in Wellington on 25 July 1998.