John Dave Schickerling (born 9 May 1995 in Calvinia, South Africa) is a South African rugby union player for the Stormers in Super Rugby and Western Province in the Currie Cup and in the Rugby Challenge.[1] He regularly plays as a lock.
As a scholar at Paarl Gimnasium, he earned a call-up to the Western Province squad for the 2012 Under-18 Craven Week competition. At the completion of the Craven Week tournament, he was named in the South African Schools side that played a three-match tournament in August 2012.[2] He started all three of South Africa's matches against France, Wales[3] and England,[4] helping South Africa to victories in all three matches.
He was once again named in the South Africa Schools side in 2013,[5] but missed the matches through injury.[6] He recovered to represent the Western Province U19 side during the 2013 Under-19 Provincial Championship, making two appearances.
In 2014, Schickerling was included in the South Africa Under-20 side that participated in the 2014 IRB Junior World Championship.[7] After playing off the bench in their first match of the competition against Scotland, he got promoted to the starting line-up for their remaining pool stage matches against New Zealand[8] and Samoa.[9] He also started their semi-final match as they secured a second victory over New Zealand during the tournament[10] and was also named in the run-on side for the final against England.
He made his first class debut for Western Province during the 2014 Vodacom Cup competition, coming on as a substitute against the Boland Cavaliers.[11]
He returned to action for the Western Province U21 side during the 2014 Under-21 Provincial Championship, but suffered a serious set-back when he sustained a broken neck in their match against the Blue Bulls U21 in Pretoria on 30 August 2014.[12] He was out of the game for thirteen months, but returned to action for Western Province's Under-21s in October 2015 in their match against the Golden Lions U21s in Johannesburg.[13]
In 2016, Schickerling was included in a South Africa 'A' squad that played a two-match series against a touring England Saxons team.[14] He was named in the starting line-up for their first match in Bloemfontein,[15] but ended on the losing side as the visitors ran out 32–24 winners.[16] He was named on the bench for the second match of the series, coming on as a second-half replacement in a 26–29 defeat to the Saxons in George.[17]
