Morné du Plessis

Who is Morné du Plessis?

Morné du Plessis 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.

Du Plessis co-founded with Tim Noakes both the Sports Science Institute of South Africa 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).