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Top Billing Takes To The Sea With Rugby Star Joe Pietersen
Top Billing Catches Up With Rugby Star Joe Pietersen.
While his classmates chose to hit the beach and slowly ease into university after the stress of their matric year, rugby star Joe Pietersen went straight into the sport he loves.
His impressive fourteen-year career has taken him around the world, and he’ll soon be taking his talents over to America where he will play fullback for San Diego Legion in Major League Rugby.
A full-back is proactive by nature and Joe adds to those character traits off the field with a tireless interest in what other people do, an active lifestyle, and a passion for conservation.
A handy surfer, Joe is quite at home in the water, and occasionally a wetsuit, especially after his time spent playing rugby in the Western Cape where the water is far from tropical.
It’s no surprise then that one of the athletes this rugby star respects most is the extreme swimmer and ocean campaigner Lewis Pugh. Pugh is passionate about highlighting threats to marine animals and eco-systems, something Joe takes seriously as well. His father raised him and his brother Willie to appreciate wildlife, in the ocean or the bush, and he’s been active in conservation efforts since.
This passion, coupled with his natural curiosity, led him and the Top Billing team to a shark cage dive in KwaZulu-Natal. As a true nature lover, Joe took every opportunity to learn about the oceanic blacktip sharks he and the Top Billing crew got to see up close.
Conservation may also play a role in his future after rugby. He recently filmed a conservation series with his brother and is a co-founder of Nkombe Rhino, a non-profit organisation working to protect rhinos from poaching. With all that South Africa has to offer, Joe also sees himself moving more into tourism one day when he’s settled back home.
But before then this grounded sporting star has new and exciting opportunities ahead. While rugby might throw some hard hits, it can also be a sweet life, and Pietersen will continue to play for a while to come. Contacts:
