Mthangala Brian Skosana (born 5 December 1991) is a former South African professional

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 with the . His regular position is centre or

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces both Lift (force), lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform (aeronautics), planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-d ...

Career

Early career

While attending St. Andrew's College in Grahamstown, he played for Eastern Province Country Districts at the 2009

Craven Week The Craven Week is an annual rugby union tournament organised for schoolboys in the Republic of South Africa. The tournament started in July 1964, and is named after the legendary Springbok rugby union player and coach Dr Danie Craven. The ...

which earned him a call-up to the South African Schools team that season. His performances there lead to a move to the academy, but he was also noticed by Australian

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

team Sydney Roosters and he joined their academy in August 2010, alongside fellow South African JP du Plessis.

Eastern Province Kings

He returned to South Africa at the start of 2012, joining and playing for their Under–21 team that year in the

2012 Under-21 Provincial Championship The 2012 ABSA Under-21 Provincial Championship will be contested from 13 July to 27 October 2012. The tournament will feature the Under-21 players from the fourteen provincial rugby unions in South Africa. Competition Division A There are seve ...

. He made eight appearances in the competition and scored a hat-trick of tries in his fifth match, a 41–3 victory over the side. The following season, he was included in the senior squad for the

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 ...

. After being an unused substitute in their match against the , Skosana made his first class debut the following week when he started their match against the in

Malmesbury Malmesbury () is a town and civil parish in north Wiltshire, England, which lies approximately west of Swindon, northeast of Bristol, and north of Chippenham. The older part of the town is on a hilltop which is almost surrounded by the upp ...

, the first of two starts during the season. Later in the same season, Skosana also made his

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 ...

debut. He came on as a substitute in the Kings' 44–18 victory over the in

Brakpan Brakpan is a mining town on the East Rand of Gauteng, South Africa, approximately 38 kilometres (23.6 mi) east of Johannesburg. History The name Brakpan comes from a small pan on a farm called Weltevreden, which was filled with very brackish water ...

. After four more substitute appearances, Skosana made his first Currie Cup start on 13 September 2013 against

Western Cape The Western Cape ( ; , ) is a provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the List of South African provinces by area, fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , an ...

side the , which also saw Skosana score his first senior try in the 18th minute of the match. He made a total of ten appearances in the 2013 Currie Cup and returned to

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 ...

action in

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

, scoring two tries in seven appearances.

SWD Eagles

Prior to the

2014 Currie Cup Premier Division The 2014 Currie Cup Premier Division was the 76th season in the competition since it started in 1889 and was contested from 9 August to 25 October 2014. The tournament (known as the Absa Currie Cup Premier Division for sponsorship reasons) is ...

, Skosana was not one of the players in coach

Carlos Spencer Carlos James Spencer (born 14 October 1975) is a former New Zealand rugby union player and previously the head coach of the and the . He is currently an assistant coach for the New Orleans Gold of Major League Rugby (MLR). During his playing ...

's plans for the competition and he joined

George George may refer to: Names * George (given name) * George (surname) People * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Papagheorghe, also known as Jorge / GEØRGE * George, stage name of Gior ...

-based side on a deal until the end of 2015.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Skosana, Brian South African rugby union players South African rugby league players Eastern Province Elephants players SWD Eagles players Living people 1991 births Rugby union players from Johannesburg Nelson Mandela University alumni Rugby union wings Rugby union centres 21st-century South African sportsmen