Stephen Atherton (born 17 March 1965) is a South African former rugby union player.^[1]

Playing career

Atherton represented the Natal Schools team, together with players such as Gary Teichmann and Joel Stransky, at the annual Craven Week in 1984 held in Bloemfontein.^[2] He made his debut for the Natal senior side in 1988 and played 165 matches for Natal over a thirteen-year period and was a member of the Currie Cup winning teams in 1990, 1992 and 1996.^[3]

Atherton toured with the Springboks to France and England in 1992, but did not play in any test matches. He made his test debut for South Africa during the 1993 tour of Argentina, in first test on 5 November 1993 at the Ferrocarril Oeste Stadium in Buenos Aires. He played in eight tests matches and fifteen tour matches for the Springboks, scoring one try in a tour match.^[4]

Test history

No.	Opponents	Results( RSA 1st)	Position	Tries	Dates	Venue
1.	Argentina	29–26	Lock		6 November 1993	Ferrocarril Oeste Stadium, Buenos Aires
2.	Argentina	52–23	Lock		13 November 1993	Ferrocarril Oeste Stadium, Buenos Aires
3.	England	15–32	Lock		4 June 1994	Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
4.	England	27–9	Lock		11 June 1994	Newlands, Cape Town
5.	New Zealand	14–22	Lock		9 July 1994	Carisbrook, Dunedin
6.	New Zealand	9–13	Lock		23 July 1994	Athletic Park, Wellington
7.	New Zealand	18–18	Lock		6 August 1994	Eden Park, Auckland
8.	New Zealand	18–29	Lock		10 August 1996	Newlands, Cape Town

See also

• List of South Africa national rugby union players – Springbok no. 576

References