ru_nationalteam ru_ntupdate ru_clubyears birth_place weight ru_nationalcaps height ru_proclubs article_title ru_clubupdate birth_date ru_nationalpoints image ru_position name ru_nationalyears
france 2007-10-08 1994 -- 2008 malmesbury , south africa 111 lb -rrb- & nbsp ; kg -lrb- 17 st 7 68 1.88 m ftin 0 on stade français pieter de villiers -lrb- rugby union -rrb-
 2007-09-16 3 july 1972 -lrb- 10 -rrb- devilliers.jpg prop pieter de villiers 1999 -- 2007
pieter de villiers -lrb- rugby union -rrb-

pieter de villiers -lrb- born 3 july 1972 in malmesbury , south africa -rrb- is a retired south african-born french rugby union footballer who represented france at international level and played in two rugby world cups , and ended his club career with stade français in the top 14 competition in france .
a prop , he was renowned for his scrummaging ability .
de villiers made his debut for france in 1999 , on 28 august in a test match against wales in cardiff , just prior to the start of the 1999 rugby world cup in wales .
despite only having the one international cap , de villers was included in france 's world cup squad .
he came on as a replacement in the quarterfinal win over argentina .
he also played in the subsequent famous semi-final victory over the all blacks .
france made it through to the final , where they met the wallabies .
australia won 35 -- 12 .
de villiers was selected in france 's 2000 six nations championship squad , and played in all of france 's five matches during the tournament .
he also earned another two international caps in november of that year , and was in the starting lineup in the second of two tests against the all blacks .
he cemented his position in the starting lineup , where he played all of the 2001 six nations championship games as well as the june and november test matches .
he played for france seven times during 2002 .
the following season , de villiers won the top 14 championship with stade français , defeating stade toulousain 32 -- 18 in the final .
in 2003 he was given a short ban for recreational drug use after traces of cocaine and ecstasy were found in a drugs test -- the player denied knowingly taking drugs but was banned for bringing the game into disrepute .
de villiers played two tests against argentina and one against the all blacks in june 2003 , but did not play at the 2003 rugby world cup in australia .
stade français again made it to the final of the french championship , where they defeated usa perpignan 38 -- 20 , to take the championship .
he returned to french squad in time for the 2004 six nations championship , as well as playing another three test matches later in the year .
he earned 10 international caps for france in 2005 , as well as that , stade français were finalists at the 2004 -- 05 heineken cup and french championship , though they lost both .
the following season , he won the 2006 six nations championship with france .
at the club level , he has had a very successful career , playing on teams that won the bouclier de brennus as french champions in 1998 , 2000 , 2003 , 2004 , and 2007 .
in december 2007 , de villiers suffered a neck injury that sidelined him for a large part of the 2007 -- 08 season .
even after recovering , he had difficulty breaking into the stade français squad .
on 18 april 2008 , he announced his retirement from all rugby , effective at the end of the 2007 -- 08 season .
de villiers is currently scrum coach for the south african national rugby team and is regarded as a trusted aid of current coach heyneke meyer .
