# Cobus Visagie

Cobus Visagie (born 31 October 1973) is a South African former rugby union footballer who played at tighthead prop.

## Early life

Visagie attended the Paul Roos Gymnasium in Stellenbosch and then studied Auditing and Accounting at Stellenbosch University, where he also played for Maties (Stellenbosch University) and Western Province Rugby representing the under–20 and under–21 teams.
Visagie finished his Bachelor of Commerce, majoring in Accounting and Audit at Stellenbosch University in 1996. He worked seven years for PricewaterhouseCoopers as a Chartered Accountant, whilst playing professional rugby.

## Playing career

Visagie made his provincial rugby debut for Western Province in 1997 and continued to represent the union as well as the Super Rugby team, the Stormers until 2003.
Visagie won three Currie Cups with Western Province Rugby, the last in 2001 with a home win (at Newlands, Cape Town) over the Natal Sharks. He also earned 46 Super 12 caps with the Stormers. He earned 29 caps for his country and was part of the Springbok team that reached the 1999 Rugby World Cup Semi Final. He was selected to the team of the tournament with fellow Springbok frontrow Os du Randt.
Visagie moved to the United Kingdom to play for the English Premiership club Saracens after being passed over for the 2003 World Cup Springbok squad. He played 121 games for Saracens and was voted into the Guinness Premiership team of the season for three consecutive years. He also represented the Barbarians (8 caps), World XV (3 caps) and the Southern Hemisphere XV that played in the Tsunami Relief game at Twickenham, before retiring from professional rugby in May 2009.

### Test history

| No. | Opposition | Result (SA 1st) | Position | Date | Venue |
| 1. | Italy | 74–3 | Tighthead prop | 12 Jun 1999 | Boet Erasmus Stadium, Port Elizabeth |
| 2. | Wales | 19–29 | Tighthead prop | 26 Jun 1998 | Millennium Stadium, Cardiff |
| 3. | New Zealand | 0–28 | Tighthead prop | 10 Jul 1999 | Carisbrook, Dunedin |
| 4. | Australia | 6–32 | Tighthead prop | 17 Jul 1999 | Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane |
| 5. | New Zealand | 18–34 | Tighthead prop | 7 Aug 1999 | Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria |
| 6. | Australia | 10–9 | Tighthead prop | 14 Aug 1999 | Newlands, Cape Town |
| 7. | Scotland | 46–29 | Tighthead prop | 3 Oct 1999 | Murrayfield, Edinburgh |
| 8. | Uruguay | 39–3 | Tighthead prop | 15 Oct 1999 | Hampden Park, Glasgow |
| 9. | England | 44–21 | Tighthead prop | 24 Oct 1999 | Stade de France, Paris |
| 10. | Australia | 21–27 | Tighthead prop | 30 Oct 1999 | Twickenham, London |
| 11. | New Zealand | 22–18 | Tighthead prop | 4 Nov 1999 | Millennium Stadium, Cardiff |
| 12. | Canada | 51–18 | Tighthead prop | 10 Jun 2000 | Basil Kenyon Stadium, East London |
| 13. | England | 22–27 | Tighthead prop | 24 Jun 2000 | Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein |
| 14. | Australia | 23–44 | Tighthead prop | 8 Jul 2000 | Colonial Stadium, Melbourne |
| 15. | New Zealand | 12–25 | Tighthead prop | 22 Jul 2000 | Jade Stadium, Christchurch |
| 16. | Australia | 6–26 | Tighthead prop | 29 Jul 2000 | Stadium Australia, Sydney |
| 17. | New Zealand | 46–40 | Tighthead prop | 19 Aug 2000 | Ellis Park, Johannesburg |
| 18. | Australia | 18–19 | Tighthead prop | 26 Aug 2000 | Kings Park, Durban |
| 19. | New Zealand | 3–12 | Tighthead prop | 21 Jul 2001 | Newlands, Cape Town |
| 20. | Australia | 20–15 | Tighthead prop | 28 Jul 2001 | Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria |
| 21. | Australia | 14–14 | Tighthead prop | 18 Aug 2001 | Subiaco Oval, Perth |
| 22. | New Zealand | 15–26 | Tighthead prop | 25 Aug 2001 | Eden Park, Auckland |
| 23. | France | 10–20 | Tighthead prop | 10 Nov 2001 | Stade de France, Paris |
| 24. | Italy | 54–26 | Substitute | 17 Nov 2001 | Stadio Marassi, Genova |
| 25. | England | 9–29 | Substitute | 24 Nov 2001 | Twickenham, London |
| 26. | United States | 43–20 | Tighthead prop | 1 Dec 2001 | Robertson Stadium, Houston |
| 27. | Scotland | 29–25 | Substitute | 7 Jun 2003 | Kings Park, Durban |
| 28. | Scotland | 28–19 | Substitute | 14 Jun 2003 | Ellis Park, Johannesburg |
| 29. | Argentina | 26–25 | Tighthead prop | 28 Jun 2003 | Boet Erasmus Stadium, Port Elizabeth |

## Later career

Visagie joined Premier Team Holdings Limited as Commercial Director of the Group of four companies based in the United Kingdom. In 2011, he was appointed Principal for Africa at Templewood Merchant Bank. The following year, he co-founded Africa Merchant Capital, based in London to focus exclusively on corporate finance advisory, private equity deal origination and syndication in Sub-Saharan Africa.

## Accolades

Visagie was one of the five South African Rugby players of the Year for 1999, along with Breyton Paulse, Joost van der Westhuizen, Hennie le Roux and the eventual winner of Player of the Year, Andre Venter.