Des van Jaarsveldt

Test history No. Opponents Results (SA 1st) Position Tries Dates Venue 1. 18–10 Flank (c)1 30 April 1960 Boet Erasmus Stadium, Port Elizabeth

Coaching and administration Van Jaarsveldt also coached the Rhodesian team from 1967 to 1970, where he once received criticism from the New Zealand All Blacks coach for instructing Rhodesia to shirt-pull and obstruct All Black players. He was president of the Rhodesia RFU in 1979. As the president of the Rhodesian Rugby Football Union, he ran Rhodesian rugby during the transition of the country to black majority rule. In 1979 following the establishment of Zimbabwe Rhodesia, he called for a meeting of all national sporting bodies to determine a unified approach to any potential name changes which included possibly dropping Rhodesia from their names. This meeting did not occur as several bodies preferred to unilaterally decide on their own names. In 1980, with the newly renamed Zimbabwe Rugby Union, Van Jaarsveldt led an unsuccessful campaign against the Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe's announcement that Zimbabwe was to sever all sporting connections with South Africa due to their apartheid policies. In the run up to this decision, Van Jaarsveldt did approach the Rugby Football Union on Zimbabwe's tour of England, their first outside of Africa and as a result of the Surrey Rugby Football Union touring Rhodesia the previous year, to see if Zimbabwe could affiliate with England.

Personal life and death Van Jaarsveldt was born in Bulawayo in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and he was educated at Plumtree School. In addition to his rugby career, he also represented Southern Rhodesia as a heavyweight boxer in the 1950 South African Championships.

Van Jaarsveldt died in South Africa on 21 July 2025, at the age of 96.

Political life Van Jaarsveldt briefly entered politics in 1983, unsuccessfully standing for former Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith's Republican Front for a seat in the Senate of Zimbabwe in which he lost the election after drawing of lots on a 10–10 tied vote.