At high school level, Du Plessis attended and played rugby for Paarl Gimnasium. He was included in the Western Province squad for the 2015 Under-16 Grant Khomo Week, only to withdraw through injury. In the same year, he was selected in the South African Rugby Union's High Performance program.[5]
In 2016, he was named in Western Province's squad for the Under-18 Craven Week tournament held in Durban.[6] He started all three matches, scoring two tries in their second match against the Sharks,[7] and helping them to a 27–20 victory over the Golden Lions in the main match[8] to be crowned unofficial champions.[9] At the conclusion of the tournament, Du Plessis was included in the South Africa Schools squad for the Under-19 International Series,[10] helping the team to victories over Wales,[11]France — scoring two tries in a 42–3 win[12] — and England.[13]
Du Plessis captained Paarl Gimnasium's first team during 2017,[5] and was again included in the Craven Week side for the tournament in Johannesburg.[14] He started all three matches at the tournament, scoring tries in matches against the Pumas[15] and the Free State Cheetahs.[16] He received a second call-up to the South Africa Schools squad for the 2017 edition of the Under-19 International Series,[17] but could not prevent the team suffering defeats to Wales,[18] France[19] and England, with Du Plessis scoring two tries in the final match in a 22–52 defeat.[20]
Rugby career
After finishing school, Du Plessis signed a contract to join the Durban-based Sharks team, and also linked up with the South African Sevens Academy in Stellenbosch.[5] He was included the academy squad that competed at two events in the 2018 Sudamérica Rugby Sevens,[21] helping them to win both the Punta Del Este Sevens in Uruguay and the Viña del Mar Sevens in Chile.
Shortly after returning to South Africa, Du Plessis was called up by the senior squad to travel to the 2018 Hamilton Sevens as their reserve player,[22] but a pulled hamstring resulted in Du Plessis being a late withdrawal from the team.[23] This setback proved to be minor, as he was included in their next squad for the 2018 USA Sevens,[24][25] where he duly made his debut. He also appeared at the events in Canada (where he scored his first try in the series),[26]Hong Kong (where he scored 7 tries for the team)[27] and Singapore,[28] in a season that saw South Africa go on to win the series by pipping Fiji to the title.[29]
Du Plessis returned to the fifteen-man version of the sport when he was called up to the South Africa Under-20 squad for the World Rugby Under 20 Championship held in France.[30] He did not feature in their opening match of the tournament against Georgia, but was named in the starting lineup for their second match against Ireland. He scored a try in the 19th minute of the match to set his team on the way to a 30–17 victory.[31] However, he was replaced at half-time, and a gluteal muscle injury ruled him out of the remainder of the championship.[32]
He returned to domestic action in South Africa for the Sharks in the Under-19 Provincial Championship.[33]
South Africa
