{"id":33857,"date":"2026-05-06T12:11:41","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T10:11:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=33857"},"modified":"2026-05-06T12:11:41","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T10:11:41","slug":"springbok-midfielder-jan-serfontein-retires-after-injury-setbacks","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/springbok-midfielder-jan-serfontein-retires-after-injury-setbacks\/","title":{"rendered":"Springbok midfielder Jan Serfontein retires after injury setbacks"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>Springbok Midfielder Jan Serfontein has announced his retirement from rugby with immediate effect after a series of injuries brought an end to his 15-year career.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>From emerging as a young star at the Vodacom Bulls to earning 35 caps for the South Africa national rugby union team and winning honours in France with Montpellier H\u00e9rault Rugby, Serfontein leaves the game after a distinguished career.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Serfontein, who returned to Pretoria at the end of last season, endured a difficult spell with injuries. After spending several weeks sidelined with a shoulder problem, an MCL injury ultimately led to his decision to retire.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>A gifted midfielder, Serfontein first made his name at Grey College before joining the Bulls, where he formed a highly regarded 10-12 partnership with Handr\u00e9 Pollard that propelled both players into the Springbok setup.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The pair also spent several seasons together at Montpellier, where Serfontein remained for eight years, a move some believe may have limited his future Springbok opportunities.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8211;ChannelAfrica&#8211;<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":23623,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[20],"class_list":["post-33857","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-sport","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Serfontein, who returned to Pretoria at the end of last season, endured a difficult spell with injuries.","published_date":"","news_description":"Serfontein, who returned to Pretoria at the end of last season, endured a difficult spell with injuries.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/33857","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/33857\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33858,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/33857\/revisions\/33858"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=33857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}