Gideon Koegelenberg

Gideon Koegelenberg (born 25 November 1994) is a South African rugby union player for the Benetton in United Rugby Championship. He usually plays as a lock. In the past he also played for Australian Super Rugby franchise Rebels.^[1]

Gideon Koegelenberg

Date of birth	(1994-11-25) 25 November 1994 (age 30)
Place of birth	Wellington, South Africa
Height	2.01 m (6 ft 7 in)
Weight	122 kg (19 st 3 lb; 269 lb)
School	Hugenote Hoërskool
University	Sharks Academy
Rugby union career
Position(s) Lock Current team Benetton Youth career 2011–2012 Boland Cavaliers 2012–2013 Sharks 2015 Golden Lions Amateur team(s) Years Team Apps (Points) 2014 UKZN Impi 5 (0) Senior career Years Team Apps (Points) 2013 Sharks XV 1 (0) 2015–2017 Zebre 32 (0) 2018–2019 Sharks 9 (0) 2018–2019 Sharks XV 8 (10) 2018–2019 Sharks (Currie Cup) 15 (5) 2020 Rebels 5 (0) 2020–2023 Kurita Water Gush 13 (5) 2023–2025 Benetton 8 (0) Correct as of 17 October 2020 International career Years Team Apps (Points) 2012 South Africa Schools 2 (0) Correct as of 20 April 2018

Rugby career

Youth rugby

Koegelenberg was born in Wellington and played for the Boland Cavaliers at youth level. He earned inclusion in the 2012 South Africa Schools squad and made appearances against France^[2] and England.^[3]

Sharks / UKZN Impi

He then joined the Sharks Academy, where he made a single appearances against former side Boland Cavaliers.^[4] A knee injury hampered his progress at the Durban-based side, ruling him out of the entire 2014 season. He made five appearances for the UKZN Impi in the team's title-winning 2015 Varsity Shield season.

Golden Lions

Koegelenberg joined the Golden Lions in 2015, where he made eleven appearances in the 2015 Under-21 Provincial Championship Group A, scoring one try against Leopards U21.^[5]

Zebre

He then moved to Italy to join Pro12 side Zebre during the 2015–16 season.^[6] He played five matches during the 2015–16 season, and a further 12 in the 2016–17 season, starting nine matches and receiving three yellow cards.^[7]

Return to Sharks

At the end of the 2017 season, Koegelenberg left Zebre to return to South Africa, and to former Super Rugby side the Sharks, signing a two-year deal with the Durban-based franchise in order to play also in the Currie Cup and the Sharks XV in the Rugby Challenge.^[8]

Benetton

Koegelenberg signed for Benetton Rugby in May 2023 ahead of the 2023–24 United Rugby Championship.^[9] He made his debut in Round 1 of the 2023–24 season against the Cardiff.^[10] He played with Benetton in the United Rugby Championship until 2025.^[11]

Super Rugby statistics

As of 27 May 2020^[12]

Season	Team	Games	Starts	Sub	Mins	Tries	Cons	Pens	Drops	Points	Yel	Red
2018	Sharks	1	0	1	19	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2019	Sharks	5	1	4	178	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2020	Rebels	5	2	3	174	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total		11	3	8	371	0	0	0	0	0	0	0