Theuns Andries Willem Kotzé (born 16 July 1987) is a Namibian international rugby union player, currently playing with the in South African domestic rugby. He is a utility back that can play as a scrum-half, fly-half or fullback, but is best known for playing as a fly-half for in the Rugby World Cup tournaments in 2011 and 2015.
Career
2005 : Schools rugby
Kotzé was born in South-West Africa – before the country gained independence from South Africa and was renamed Namibia – but grew up in Upington in South Africa's Northern Cape province. From there, he was selected to represent at the premier South African high schools competition, the Under-18 Craven Week, in 2005.
2006–2010 : Leopards / NWU Pukke
After school, Kotzé moved to Potchefstroom where he enrolled at North West University, also joining the rugby academy. In 2006, he played for in the Under-19 Provincial Championship, before advancing to the squad the following year.
In 2008, he represented university side in the inaugural Varsity Cup tournament. He appeared as a replacement in the first ever match in the competition's history, a 23–17 win for the NWU Pukke against the . That was his only appearance in the competition, but he once again represented the Leopards U21 side in the Provincial Championship in the latter half of the season.
He returned to Varsity Cup action in 2009, mainly playing as a scrum-half for NWU Pukke. He made four starts and two appearances as a replacement during the regular season, scoring a try and nine points with the boot in their 27–15 victory over . His team won five of their seven matches to finish in third position on the log to qualify for the semi-finals. He was an unused replacement in their 19–17 semi-final victory over UCT in Cape Town, but played off the bench in the final, as they lost 6–11 to the other Western Cape-based university, .
Kotzé established himself as the first-choice full-back and goal-kicker for NWU Pukke during the 2010 Varsity Cup. He started all eight of their matches in the competition, scoring two tries and kicking 67 points to finish the competition as the leading points scorer. Despite this, his side only reached the semi-finals of the competition, where they were eliminated by eventual champions .
In September 2010, Kotzé made his first class debut by coming on as a replacement for the in their 17–59 defeat to in the 2010 Currie Cup Premier Division. He made his first start three weeks later against the in Durban and made his home debut in their next match against the in Rustenburg. It was a disappointing season for the Leopards, however, as they lost all fourteen of their matches in the competition to finish bottom of the log.
2011 : UJ / Welwitschias
At the start of 2011, Kotzé once again played in the Varsity Cup, but this time in the colours of Johannesburg-based university side . He started all eight of their matches – mainly in the fly-half position – helping them to six wins in their seven matches to finish top of the log during the regular season, before losing to in the semi-finals. Despite improving on the 77 points he scored in 2010 to be the tournament top scorer, getting 82 points for UJ in 2011, he finished third in the points-scoring charts behind Demetri Catrakilis and Wesley Dunlop.
At the conclusion of the 2011 Varsity Cup, he joined up with Namibian side ' Vodacom Cup squad. Kotzé played off the bench in a 33–71 defeat to and started their home match against Argentine side a week later, scoring a try in each of those matches, as well kicking a conversion in the first match.
2011 : Rugby World Cup
After making his international debut for against on 15 June 2011, scoring 19 points in a 29–23 victory, Kotzé was named in the Namibia squad for the 2011 Rugby World Cup to be held in New Zealand and started as Namibia's fly-half in all four of their matches in Pool D. After kicking fifteen points in their opening match in the competition, a 25–49 loss to , he scored one try and one conversion in their 12–49 loss to in the second match. They faced African rivals in their third match, which the defending champions won 87–0, and suffered another big defeat in their final match against , going down 7–81, with Kotzé converting a Heinz Koll try. With four defeats out of four, Namibia finished bottom of Pool D to be eliminated from the competition.