Sabelo Nhlapo (born 17 December 1988 in Johannesburg) is a retired South African

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...

player, who most recently played with the . His regular position is prop.

Career

Youth

Nhlapo represented

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a Megacity#List of megacities, megacity, and is List of urban areas by p ...

-based side at the Under-18 Academy Week tournament in 2006, which led to his inclusion in the

CAR A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded as t ...

Under-18 tournament that year. He then joined the Academy, where he played at Under-19 level in 2007 and at Under-21 level in 2008 and 2009. Once again, he received representative honours during this time, playing for the South African Under-19 side at the

2007 Under 19 Rugby World Championship The International Rugby Board (IRB) awarded the 2007 Under 19 Rugby World Championship to the Irish Rugby Football Union ( IRFU) and the Ulster branch hosted it. The Tournament, which took place in Belfast, Northern Ireland from 4–21 April, ...

and for their U20 side at the

2008 IRB Junior World Championship The 2008 IRB Junior World Championship was the first annual international rugby union competition for Under 20 national teams. All players who were twenty years of age or under on 1 January 2008 were eligible for selection. This competition repla ...

Sharks

He made his first class debut for the during the

2009 Vodacom Cup The 2009 Vodacom Cup was the 12th 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 First Divisions. Competition There were 14 teams pa ...

competition, in their first round match against the . He made twenty appearances for them in 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 ...

competition over the next three seasons, but failed to break into their

Currie Cup The Currie Cup is South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competition, played each winter and spring (June to October), featuring teams representing either entire provinces or substantial regions within provinces. Although it is the premier ...

side, despite being named in their squad which won the

2010 Currie Cup Premier Division The 2010 Absa Currie Cup Premier Division was the 72nd season in the competition since it started in 1889. The competition was contested from 9 July through to 30 October. It was won by the , who defeated 30–10 in the final at . Patrick Lamb ...

title and also being included in the

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...

squad for the

2011 Super 15 season The 2011 Super Rugby season was the first season of the new 15-team format for the Super Rugby competition, which involved teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Including its past iterations as Super 12 and Super 14, this was the 16t ...

Varsity Cup

In 2012, he returned to

Gauteng Gauteng ( ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name in Sotho-Tswana languages means 'place of gold'. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts for only ...

to join

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends eastward into the foot ...

-based

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 univers ...

side and made fourteen appearances for them during the

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

and

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment ...

seasons. UP Tuks won the competition in both occasions, with Nhlapo playing in both finals.

Boland Cavaliers

The latter half of 2013 saw him move to

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by m ...

to join the for 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 competiti ...

competition. He made seven appearances for them during that competition.

Pumas

He then moved to

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

to join the for 2014. He was a member of the Pumas side that won the

for the first time in

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

, beating 24–7 in the final. Nhlapo made four appearances during the season.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nhlapo, Sabelo South African rugby union players Living people 1988 births Rugby union players from Johannesburg Boland Cavaliers players Sharks (Currie Cup) players Pumas (Currie Cup) players South Africa Under-20 international rugby union players Rugby union props