Career
A native of the town of Bethlehem in the Free State province, Bismarck du Plessis made his debut for the Sharks in Super Rugby (then the Super 12) in 2005. As he plays hooker and plays in the same team as South Africa's captain, John Smit, for much of his career he has been a backup to Smit; however, this has changed with Smit's recent move to tighthead prop. Before Smit's change of position, du Plessis nonetheless played in Super Rugby and the Currie Cup whenever Smit is unavailable, and in 2007 was selected to play for South Africa in the Tri Nations Series. He made his debut for South Africa as a substitute in the same game against Australia in Sydney in which his older brother, Jannie, who was in the starting XV, also made his Springboks debut. The du Plessis brothers became the 23rd set of brothers to earn caps for South Africa at rugby union.
Following an illness to Pierre Spies, Bismarck du Plessis was called into South Africa's squad for the 2007 Rugby World Cup; his brother Jannie was a later addition to the squad, replacing BJ Botha, who injured a knee in South Africa's final pool match against the USA.
During the 2008 end-of-year Test series, the Springboks moved Smit to tighthead in order to accommodate both him and the younger, faster du Plessis in the front row together; this change has continued through the 2009 Super 14 season and into the Boks' 2009 Test season.
After South Africa's second game of the 2008 Tri Nations Series, against New Zealand, du Plessis was cited for an eye-gouge on New Zealand's Adam Thomson. At the subsequent disciplinary hearing, which was the first of his career, the judicial officer found that his action had been "careless", not deliberate, and imposed a three-week suspension, a significantly lower penalty than the three-to-six months' suspensions routinely imposed for deliberate eye-gouging.
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