Teunis Nieuwoudt

Nieuwoudt was born in East London, but grew up in Pretoria, where he attended Hoërskool Waterkloof. However, he failed to earn any provincial call-ups to represent the Blue Bulls in competitions such as the Craven Week.

After high school, he moved to the Western Cape, where he played rugby for Maties in the Western Province Super League in 2013 and 2014.[2] He was included in their squad for the 2014 Varsity Cup,[1] but failed to make any appearances.

In 2015, Nieuwoudt moved to Bloemfontein where he joined their university side, the UFS Shimlas, and was included in their squad for the 2015 Varsity Cup. He missed out on the first two rounds of action, but played in all of their remaining matches. Shimlas went through the round-robin stage of the competition with an unbeaten record to qualify for the semi-finals. Nieuwoudt played off the bench in their 21–10 victory over the UCT Ikey Tigers in the semi-final,[3] as well as in the final, where he was a member of the Shimlas side that won 63–33 against the NWU Pukke to win the competition for the first time in their history.[4]

Shortly after the 2015 Varsity Cup, Nieuwoudt also joined up with the Free State XV squad that played in the 2015 Vodacom Cup. He started in their 29–30 defeat to Western Province in Bloemfontein and made the occasion an even more memorable one by scoring a try for his side on the hour mark.[5] He also started their match against Griquas a week later, but again found himself on the wrong end of a single point defeat, with the team from Kimberley winning the match 19–18.[6]

In May 2015, UFS Shimlas head coach Franco Smith was appointed as the head coach of the Free State Cheetahs. He included a number of Shimlas players in the Free State Cheetahs squad for the 2015 Currie Cup Premier Division, with Nieuwoudt among them. He was named on the bench for their Round Six match against the Eastern Province Kings in Port Elizabeth.[7]