Riaan Esterhuizen

Esterhuizen followed the traditional pathway by playing representative rugby at schoolboy level from the age of seven. He captained his high school team on both the 15-man format as well as the sevens format. After high school he joined and captained the Border U19 team for their Provincial Championship campaign in 2013.[2] He moved to the Port Elizabeth-based Eastern Province Kings in 2014. He started six of the Eastern Province U21s' seven matches during the 2014 Under-21 Provincial Championship regular season, helping them finish top of the log to qualify for the semi-finals, winning all of their matches along the way.[3] He started their semi-final against Limpopo Blue Bulls U21, scoring a try in the first quarter of the match to help them to a 28–26 victory.[4] He also started the final against SWD U21 in Welkom, playing the first hour of a 46–3 victory to secure the Group B championship.[5] He remained in the starting lineup for their promotion play-off match against Border U21, where a 64–9 victory ensure Eastern Province would return to Group A of the competition in 2015.[6]

Esterhuizen remained part of the team for their 2015 season, playing in five of their first six matches in a disappointing season for his side struggling to adapt to the new level, winning just one match all season and finishing bottom of the log.[7]

He started the 2016 season by playing Varsity Cup rugby with the local university team, the NMU Madibaz. In his first year, he made three appearances for the team – starting two of those – and scored a try in their 26–35 defeat to CUT Ixias,[8] but experienced another disappointing season, as the team finished second-bottom on the log.[9] He played for the team until 2019, captaining the NMU Madibaz from 2018.

After the 2016 Varsity Cup, Esterhuizen was one of several youngsters that were included in the Eastern Province Kings senior squad that competed in the 2016 Currie Cup qualification series.[10] He made his first class debut in their second match of the season, coming on as a replacement against the Boland Cavaliers in an 18–37 defeat in Wellington.[11] After another appearance off the bench against the Border Bulldogs,[12] Esterhuizen made his first start in a 15–35 defeat to a Free State XV in Port Elizabeth.[13]

Esterhuizen has had international success in the Sevens game. He was asked to join the Springbok Sevens Academy in 2014/15 and played two tournaments in Europe for the team before injuring his knee.