Player Profile

No-one else has played more times for Wales than Christiaan Roets. If only he'd been discovered earlier, Christiaan would have had many more Wales senior men's appearances. In the end, he had to settle for 24 caps and 13 tries. South African born, he qualified for Wales via the residency rule and shined in the Welsh system with Swansea Valley Miners, South Wales Hornets, Bridgend Blue Bulls (helping them to a 2007 Welsh Grand Final win), Wales Dragonhearts and Wales Students. Because of this, he was selected for the full Wales men's side in the European Cup game against Serbia in 2009, and scored a hat-trick of tries. He went on to win European Cup medals in 2009, 2010 and 2015 and also played in the 2011 Four Nations and 2013 and 2017 World Cups. For Wales Students, he played in the 2008 and 2013 World Cups - yes two World Cups in a year - helping Wales to reach the semi-finals of both. He was also a Four Nations winner with Wales Students in 2009. His Wales Students record read five tries in 12 appearances. For Wales Dragonhearts, he won Four Nations honours in 2007 and 2009, part of his nine caps and four tries, totalling a record 45 caps, Not included in that total is an appearance for Wales men in the Danny Jones Memorial Match - Keighley Cougars v Wales on 25/10/2015. Professionally he played League 1 for South Wales Scorpions and North Wales Crusaders. He was a founder member of the Scorpions, spending two years there before becoming one of the North Wales side's first ever signings. He made 70 appearances there in three years, scoring nine tries, before returning to South Wales. His scoring record in the south was better, running in 24 tries in 78 appearances. Christiaan originally came from a rugby union background, playing that code from childhood until 2009. In South Africa, he played for Technical High School in Kroonstad, Pretoria University and Vagabonds, and on moving to Wales he turned out for a number of local clubs. On retirement, he worked as an associate director in Repository and Derivatives Services in the financial sector. He is now set to play Masters Rugby League, so will hope to add to his 45 Wales caps in the future.