Austin Herd re-signed South African Rikus Zwart for the 2020 Major League Rugby season. The 23-year-old lock/back-row is 6’5″ and 265 lbs.
Rikus played 840 minutes in 16 matches in 2019 and scored 2 tries. He had 1 linebreak, 1 tackle break, made 4 offloads, and made 124 tackles.
Rikus is from Kimberly, Northern Cape, South Africa and began playing rugby when he was nine at Newton Primary School. He then went to Hoërskool Noord-Kaap and the University of Kwa Zula-Natal.
Rikus played provincial rugby with the Griquas Under-16s and Under-18s. In 2014 he was named Sportsman of the Year.
He then progressed through the Cell C Sharks age-grade system playing lock and flanker with the Under-19s in 2015 and the Under-21s from 2016 to 2017.
In 2017 he also played for Varsity College in Durban and for the South African provincial side, the Griffins, in the Currie Cup. In 2018 he made 15 appearances for the Cell C Sharks in the Super Sport Challenge.
Rikus was an important contributor for the Austin Herd in 2019 and is expected to be a key contributor in 2020.
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