Luan Nieuwoudt

Nieuwoudt attended Kroonheuwel Primêre Skool in Kroonstad, earning an inclusion in the Griffons Under-13 squad that played at the Craven Week competition in 2008.

He then relocated to the Eastern Cape where he attended Humansdorp school Hoërskool Nico Malan. Here, he was selected to represent Eastern Province at the Under-16 Grant Khomo Week in 2011 and at the Under-18 Craven Week competitions in both 2012 and 2013, scoring a try against the Free State in their first match of the 2013 competition.[2]

After the 2013 Craven Week tournament, Nieuwoudt also became involved with the Eastern Province U19s that played in the 2013 Under-19 Provincial Championship. He started their final two matches of the regular season to help them finish third and qualify for the semi-finals. He played in both the semi-final – where they beat Boland U19 in Wellington[3] – and the final, which Eastern Province won by beating Falcons U19 56–40 in Nelspruit to win the Group B title.[4] Nieuwoudt also started their promotion play-off match against Border U19, helping them to a 27–20 victory and winning promotion to Group A.[5]

After playing some rugby for the NMMU Young Guns during the 2014 Varsity Cup Young Guns series, he was named in the starting line-up for the Eastern Province Kings for their 2014 Vodacom Cup match against a Free State XV on 29 March 2014 in Cradock.[6] He made his first class debut and played over an hour of the match as they lost 3–31 to their rivals from Bloemfontein.

Still eligible to play at Under-19 level, he returned to that side for their first season in Group A of the 2014 Under-19 Provincial Championship. He started ten of their matches and scored a try in their match against Free State U19[7] as they finished in sixth position in Group A.