from London Irish<\/a> and has made 56 appearances. The Bears have not disclosed the length of his deal.<\/p>\nThe 28-year-old South African has scored nine tries in 41 league appearances and was named in last season’s Gallagher Prem team of the season.<\/p>\n
“I’m really pleased to be staying at the Bears,” Van Rensburg said.<\/p>\n
“I’ve loved my time here and my game has grown and developed so much thanks to the environment, the coaches, and my teammates.<\/p>\n
“I feel very connected to this club and the direction we’re heading, and I’m excited to keep building and contributing to what we’re developing.”<\/p>\n
Steve Borthwick is an admirer of Van Rensburg and, under the five-year residency rule, he would normally qualify to play for England from the start of the 2026-27 season.<\/p>\n
But having been capped once by South Africa at Under-20 level, it would require a change in World Rugby’s regulations, something which is currently being challenged, for him to play internationally for England.<\/p>\n
“We’re delighted that Benhard has committed his future to the Bears,” Bears director of rugby Pat Lam said.<\/p>\n
“From the moment he arrived, his consistency, professionalism, and attitude – both on and off the field – have been exceptional, making him a favourite among his team-mates.<\/p>\n
“Benhard is an outstanding team man who leads through his actions, he is a genuine leader within our group, someone who sets the standard with his work ethic and performance every single day. <\/p>\n
“He’s a coach’s dream – driven to improve not just for himself but for the team – and I’m genuinely excited that he will continue his journey with the club.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bristol Bears’ star centre Benhard Janse van Rensburg has signed a new contract with the club. Van Rensburg…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":591377,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8818],"tags":[381,748,393,4884,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-591376","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bristol","8":"tag-bristol","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115606400841620643","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=591376"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591376\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/591377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=591376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=591376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=591376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}