Ryan de la Harpe
Ryan Clifton Alexander De La Harpe (born 2 September 1982) is a former Namibian rugby union player who played as a scrum-half represented Namibia internationally from 2011 to 2014 and currently serves as the National U20s Head Rugby Coach & Academy Manager for Namibia.[1] Prior to this appointment, he served as Head Coach at Vagabonds Rugby club on the Isle of Man for 4 years.[2] Ryan also creates rugby coaching videos on his YouTube Channel.[3] He and his wife set up De La Sports in 2019 on the Isle of Man and besides making videos, De La Sports offers rugby coaching, Multi sports sessions and rugby camps. Ryan De La Harpe is regarded as one of the finest scrum-halves to have played for Namibia.
| Full name | Ryan Clifton Alexander De La Harpe | ||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date of birth | 2 September 1982 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Walvis Bay, South West Africa | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 88 kg (194 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| School | Windhoek High School | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Spouse | Simone (m.2009-) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Children | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation(s) | Professional Rugby Coach | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Career
Ryan De La Harpe made his international debut for Namibia against Romania on 10 June 2011 prior to the World Cup call.[4] He was included in the Namibian squad for the 2011 Rugby World Cup following the successful outing with Birmingham Moseley Rugby Club and featured in three group stage matches.[5][6] In 2014, he notably became the first Namibian to play for the famous Barbarians F. C.[7] Ryan also played for few English Rugby Union Clubs such as Fylde Rugby Club, Birmingham Moseley Rugby Club and Letchworth Garden City Rugby Club and Lancashire County Rugby Football Union.[8]
He retired from international rugby in 2014 and pursued his career through coaching professionally. He gained his England level 3 coaching award in 2020. He had coaching stints with Myerscough College, Lancashire County Rugby Football Union, Lancaster University.[8] He was appointed as the head coach of Vagabond's Rugby Club in August 2018.[9]
References
- "Namibia Press Agency".
- "Ryan de la Harpe | Rugby Union | Players and Officials". ESPN scrum. Retrieved 9 September 2019.
- "De la Sports - YouTube". YouTube.
- ESPN
- "Burger leads Namibian 30". Planet Rugby. 18 August 2011. Archived from the original on 10 October 2011. Retrieved 9 September 2019.
- Dick, Brian (9 September 2011). "Moseley's Ryan De La Harpe finds himself on the world stage". birminghampost. Retrieved 9 September 2019.
- "De la Harpe selected for Barbarians". The Namibian. Retrieved 9 September 2019.
- October 2014, The TRU Team Monday 20. "Ryan De La Harpe called up by Namibia". Talking Rugby Union. Retrieved 9 September 2019.
- "Vagabonds appoint former international scrum-half de la Harpe as new head of rugby". www.iomtoday.co.im. 10 August 2018. Retrieved 9 September 2019.