Christian Stewart

Stewart matriculated at Woodridge College in the Eastern Cape and in 1987 he enrolled at the University of Stellenbosch. He made his senior provincial debut for Western Province in 1987 as a fullback and in 1988 he was selected at centre for Western Province, forming a very successful partnership with Faffa Knoetze. In 1989 he joined Villagers, within the Western Province club system.[2] At the end of his career with Western Province in 1998, he played 136 games for the province and scored 31 tries.[3]

Having dual nationality, Stewart represented Canada in two rugby world cups in 1991 and in 1995 when he was not eligible for selection for the Springboks of South Africa. He played four world cup matches in 1991 and three in 1995.[4]

In 1998 when Christian was finally available to represent the Springboks of South Africa he was selected and played 3 test matches.[5] Unfortunately, in his 3rd and final test (the now famous test where South Africa needed to beat England at Twickenham to break the New Zealand All Blacks world record of 17 consecutive wins), he suffered a serious neck injury which ended his rugby playing career at the age of 33. After the 1995 Rugby World Cup, Christian Stewart was named in the all time Dream Team chosen by the rugby press.[2]

Stewart also played for the Stormers in South Africa, Rovigo in Italy and rugby league for the Sydney Bulldogs in Australia.

Test history

Canada
No.	Opposition	Result (Can 1st)	Position	Tries	Date	Venue
1.	Scotland XV	24–19	Centre		25 May 1991	Saint John
2.	United States	34–15	Centre		8 Jun 1991	Calgary
3.	Fiji	13–3	Centre		5 Oct 1991	Stade Jean Dauger, Bayonne
4.	Romania	19–11	Centre		9 Oct 1991	Stade Ernest-Wallon, Toulouse
5.	France	13–19	Centre		13 Oct 1991	Stade Armandie, Agen
6.	New Zealand	13–29	Centre		20 Oct 1991	Stadium Lille Métropole, Villeneuve-d'Ascq
7.	England	19–60	Centre		10 Dec 1994	Twickenham, Edinburgh
8.	France	9–28	Centre		17 Dec 1994	Stade Léo Lagrange, Besançon
9.	Scotland	6–22	Centre		21 Jan 1995	Murrayfield, Edinburgh
10.	Fiji	22–10	Centre	1	8 Apr 1995	Prince Charles Park, Nadi
11.	New Zealand	7–73	Replacement	1	22 Apr 1995	Eden Park, Auckland
12.	Romania	34–3	Centre		26 May 1995	Boet Erasmus Stadium, Port Elizabeth
13.	Australia	11–27	Centre		31 May 1995	Boet Erasmus Stadium, Port Elizabeth
14.	South Africa	0–20	Centre		3 Jun 1995	Boet Erasmus Stadium, Port Elizabeth
South Africa
No.	Opposition	Result (SA 1st)	Position	Tries	Date	Venue
1.	Scotland	35–10	Centre		21 Nov 1998	Murrayfield, Edinburgh
2.	Ireland	27–13	Centre		28 Nov 1998	Lansdowne Road, Dublin
3.	England	7–13	Centre		5 Dec 1998	Twickenham, London

In 1988, Stewart was one of the five SA Young Players of the Year, along with Kobus Burger, Jacques du Plessis, Andre Joubert and JJ van der Walt.[6]

• List of Canada national rugby union players – no. 205
• List of South Africa national rugby union players – Springbok no. 642