Duane Vermeulen

Background Vermeulen's father died from cancer in c.1997. When Vermeulen was only 10/11 years old.

Club career Vermeulen began his career in the Free State, playing for the Free State Cheetahs in the Currie Cup and the Cheetahs in the Super 14. He eventually followed his former coach Rassie Erasmus and joined the much larger and more competitive Western Province rugby union in 2009 after three seasons with the Free State. He put in some strong displays for the Stormers in the 2010 Super 14 season, where the Stormers made it all the way to the final.

Injuries plagued Vermeulen's 2011 and early 2012 seasons, however, after playing just nine games of Super Rugby, was selected as part of Heyneke Meyer's squad for the away leg of the Rugby Championship.

Vermeulen has twice won the Currie Cup, in 2007 with the Free State and in 2012 with Western Province. He was named captain of the Stormers for the 2015 Super Rugby season. While out with a neck injury, in June 2015 Vermeulen flew to France to be unveiled as a post-2015 Rugby World Cup signing for Top 14 club Toulon.

After a short spell in Japan with Kubota Spears, Vermeulen travelled back to his home nation of South Africa as a -player, signing in October 2018.

On 16 September 2021, it was announced that Vermeulen would join Irish province Ulster in the United Rugby Championship for the 2021–22 season. Vermeulen made his Ulster debut on 11 December 2021 in the European Rugby Champions Cup, against Clermont Auvergne. He spent two seasons with the Irish province, leaving at the end of the 2022–23 season.

International career Before his first full international cap, Vermeulen represented South Africa at the second level of international rugby, appearing for the Emerging Springboks. One highlight of his appearances for the Emerging Boks was being in the squad that performed against the British & Irish Lions, holding them to a 13–13 draw, during their tour to South Africa in 2009.

Vermeulen looked like being a certain selection for the Springboks, Vermeulen was not called into the Springbok squad that faced Wales, Italy and France. He was also omitted from the Springboks 2010 Tri Nations Series squad. After a stand out Currie Cup domestic Rugby Season, Vermeulen was named as part of the 39-man preliminary training squad ahead of the 2010 end of year grand slam tour to the Northern Hemisphere. He was once again overlooked for selection in the final squad.

Vermeulen made his international debut for South Africa on 8 September 2012, where he formed part of the starting lineup going up against Australia. He was selected again to start the following week against New Zealand in Dunedin, where South Africa lost by 10 points. On 29 September 2012, South Africa beat Australia 31–8, a victory which marked Vermeulen's first Springbok win.

He was selected for the Springboks' 2012 Northern Hemisphere tour. Vermeulen received a man of the match award for his performance against England at Twickenham during this tour, based on a number of vital turnovers on the ground, 15 hard tackles, and his role of primary ball carrier on the day. In 2014, he was one of five nominees for the IRB Player of the Year award.

Vermeulen played in the 2019 Rugby World Cup Final against England. He was part of the South African team that won their third World Cup at the Yokohama Stadium in Japan. He was awarded a man of the match award for his performance where he made a number of vital contributions, including 10 carries, making 49 metres (both the most in the match) and 2 turnovers.

Vermeulen was called up by the Springboks at the 2023 Rugby World Cup and the team went on and win the World Cup once again after the 2019.

Vermeulen announced his retirement from rugby on 8 November 2023.

In November 2025, ahead of the final fixture in the 2025 Autumn Nations Series against Wales, South Africa head coach Rassie Erasmus mentioned the possibility of Vermeulen, who had taken up a role as an assistant coach with the team, coming out of retirement in the event of a late injury crisis ahead of the game. No injuries were reported and he did not play the fixture.

Honours SARU Rugby Player of the Year 2014 Super Rugby Player of Year 2014 IRB Player of the Year – Nominee – 2014 Super Rugby and Unlocked Player of Year 2020 SA Rugby Player of the Year for 2020 Currie Cup 1st division - Pumes 2004 Currie Cup winner - Cheetahs 2007, Western Province 2012, Bulls 2020–21 World Cup Winner 2019, 2023 Rugby Championship Winner 2019

Test Match Record Against P W D L Tri Pts %Won 8 8 0 0 1 5 11 6 0 5 0 0 9 6 0 3 1 5 4 4 0 0 0 0 4 2 0 2 0 0 3 3 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 15 4 1 10 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 7 7 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 9 7 0 2 1 5 Total 76 53 1 22 3 15 Pld = Games Played, W = Games Won, D = Games Drawn, L = Games Lost, Tri = Tries Scored, Pts = Points Scored

International Tries Try Opposing team Location Venue Competition Date Result 1 Soweto, South Africa FNB Stadium 2013 Rugby Championship Won 73–13 2 Durban, South Africa Kings Park Mid-year rugby test series Won 38–16 3 Bloemfontein, South Africa Toyota Stadium Mid-year rugby test series Won 23–12

Super Rugby statistics

Season Team Games Starts Sub Mins Tries Points 2007 7 5 2 437 0 0 1 0 2008 13 12 1 949 3 15 0 0 2009 13 13 0 1040 0 0 0 0 2010 15 15 0 1186 2 10 0 0 2011 16 15 1 1178 0 0 1 0 2012 8 8 0 640 0 0 0 0 2013 10 10 0 791 0 0 1 0 2014 16 16 0 1221 1 5 0 0 2015 11 11 0 862 2 10 0 0 2016–2018 did not participate in Super Rugby 2019 19 19 0 1056 2 10 0 0 Total 123 119 4 9360 10 50 3 0

Personal life Vermeulen married wife Ezel in 2012, and they have two sons.

He has business investments in farming, honey, wine and bubble tea.