Morkel was born in Kimberley in 1885, but as a child moved to Johannesburg with his parents. In 1903 he played for the Witwatersrand team against the touring team from the British Isles.[2] In 1905, Morkel joined the Central South African Railways Club and in 1906 he was selected for Transvaal to play in the Currie Cup tournament. After the tournament, he was selected for South Africa to tour Europe, under the captaincy of Paul Roos. He made his test debut against Ireland on 24 November 1906 in Belfast.[3]
Morkel played in two test matches against the 1910 British Isles team and captained the Springboks in the first test in Johannesburg. He again toured with the Springboks to Europe in 1912–13, playing in all five test matches and also captained the team against England. In addition to the 9 test matches that Morkel played, he also played 31 tour matches, in which he scored 99 points.[4]
^Greyvenstein, Chris (1992). Springbok saga : from 1891 to the new beginning (4th ed.). Cape Town: Don Nelson. p. 54. ISBN1-86806-095-0. OCLC105375255.