Simphiwe Brian Shabangu (born 16 May 2013) is a South African

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player who last played for the in the

Currie Cup The Currie Cup () is South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competition featuring teams representing either entire provinces or substantial regions within provinces. Although it is the premier domestic competition, four South African franc ...

and in the Rugby Challenge. His regular position is flanker.

Career

Youth and Varsity rugby

Shabangu came through the youth system, playing for their Under–16 team at the 2004 Grant Khomo Week, for the Under–18s at the 2005 Academy Week and for the Under–21 team in the 2008 Under-21 Provincial Championship. At the start of

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

, Shabangu played

Varsity Cup Varsity Cup is the collective name for four South African rugby union competitions involving the top rugby playing universities in the country. It was launched in 2008, with eight teams participating in the Varsity Cup competition and each unive ...

rugby for the , who reached their first ever semi-final in this competition.

Border Bulldogs

Shabangu signed for the in time for the 2012 Currie Cup First Division season and instantly became a regular in the senior side, making his debut in the first game of the season against the and playing in all fourteen games of the season, starting thirteen of them. Shabangu only played in two

2013 Vodacom Cup The 2013 Vodacom Cup was played between 9 March and 18 May 2013 and was the 16th edition of this annual domestic cup competition. The Vodacom Cup is played between provincial rugby union teams in South Africa from the Currie Cup Premier and Fi ...

matches due to his Varsity Cup duties, but returned to the Bulldogs make a further ten appearances in the

2013 Currie Cup First Division The 2013 Currie Cup First Division was contested from 29 June to 11 October 2013. The tournament (also known as the Absa Currie Cup First Division for sponsorship reasons) is the second tier of South Africa's premier domestic rugby union compe ...

, scoring two tries.

Pumas

Shabangu left the Bulldogs at the end of the 2013 season to join

Nelspruit Mbombela, formerly Nelspruit, is a city in northeastern South Africa. It is the capital of the Mpumalanga province. Located on the Crocodile River, the city lies about by road west of the Mozambique border, east of Johannesburg and north of ...

-based side the . He was a member of the Pumas side that won the

Vodacom Cup The Vodacom Cup was an annual rugby union competition in South Africa. Annual Vodacom Cup competitions were played between its inaugural season in 1998 and 2015 and was contested between February and May each year. The Vodacom Cup was the succes ...

for the first time in

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

, beating 24–7 in the final. Shabangu made nine appearances during the season, scoring two tries.

Sevens and Representative rugby

Shabangu also played some sevens rugby, playing for the sevens team in 2009 and 2010 and captaining a South African Emerging Sevens team in the Safaricom Sevens tournament in 2011. In 2013, Shabangu was included in a South Africa President's XV team that played in the

2013 IRB Tbilisi Cup The 2013 IRB Tbilisi Cup was the inaugural edition of this international rugby union tournament, created by the International Rugby Board and was played from 7 to 16 June 2013 at the Avchala Stadium in Tbilisi. The hosts Georgia national rugby u ...

and won the tournament after winning all three matches.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shabangu, Brian 1988 births Living people Border Bulldogs players Rugby union players from Durban South African rugby union players University of South Africa alumni Rugby union flankers Alumni of Glenwood High School (Durban) 21st-century South African sportsmen