David Ribbans

Western Province named him their young forward of the year. He has since played ten Tests for England, qualified through a grandfather.

David Ribbans was voted Western Province’s young forward of the year in 2016 and named in a Stormers Super Rugby squad. He has played ten Tests, all of them for England, for whom he qualifies through a grandfather.

Lock at Toulon, 2.02m and 126kg.

Somerset West is his home town and Somerset College gave him the game at six. The Western Province institute took him after school in 2014 and three years in the junior grades followed. His senior debut came in the Vodacom Cup in March 2015, and his first Currie Cup try mattered: Western Province were losing 28-20 in a match they had to win, and his score, converted, set up the penalty that took them into the semi-finals.

Northampton signed him at the end of that season and kept him for seven years. His teammates voted him player of the year twice, the supporters once, and he made the Premiership team of the season in 2021 and again in 2023.

Eddie Jones brought him into an England camp in October 2020 and Courtney Lawes’s injuries opened the door twice, first in 2021 and again in 2023. He won his first cap against Japan in November 2022 and started alongside Maro Itoje in Dublin at the end of that Six Nations. England finished third at the 2023 World Cup with him in the squad.

Toulon announced him in February 2023 on three years. He scored his first try for them against Northampton, in the Champions Cup, in a defeat.

A tall, heavy lineout forward, and one of several South Africans the Top 14 has acquired by way of England.