Seabelo Mohanoe Senatla (born 10 February 1993) is a 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 for the South African Sevens Side. He also plays for in

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 ...

and in the

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 ...

. His regular position is winger. Senatla was a member of the South Africa Sevens team that won a bronze medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Career

Youth

Senatla was born in

Welkom Welkom () is the second-largest city in the Free State province of South Africa, located about northeast of Bloemfontein which is the provincial capital. Welkom is also known as Circle City, City Within A Garden, Mvela and Matjhabeng. The cit ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...

. Playing schoolboy rugby for Riebeeckstad High School in Welkom, Senatla earned selection in the side that played at the Under-16 Grant Khomo Week tournament in 2009, as well as the Under-18 Academy Week tournament in 2010. He was also a member of the side that played in the 2011 Under-19 Provincial Championship, scoring four tries in eight starts. In 2012, Senatla moved to

Bloemfontein Bloemfontein, ( ; , "fountain of flowers") also known as Bloem, is one of South Africa's three capital cities and the capital of the Free State province. It serves as the country's judicial capital, along with legislative capital Cape ...

, where he played for university side during the

2012 Varsity Shield 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length ...

competition. He helped them finish top of the log and played in the final, where they lost 19–17 to . His impressive try-scoring form for the side during the

2012 Under-19 Provincial Championship The 2012 ABSA Under-19 Provincial Championship was contested from 13 July to 27 October 2012. The tournament featured the Under-19 players from the fourteen Currie Cup unions. Competition Division A There were seven participating teams in the 201 ...

– scoring seven tries in eight starts, which included two hat-tricks against and the – saw him make the step up to the side, scoring one try in five appearances during the 2012 Under-21 Provincial Championship.

Rugby sevens

Senatla also caught the attention of the Blitzbokke and he signed a two-year contract with

SARU The South African Rugby Union (SARU) is the governing body for rugby union in South Africa and is affiliated to World Rugby. It was established in 1992 as the South African Rugby Football Union, from the merger of the South African Rugby Board a ...

to play for them on the

IRB Sevens World Series The World Rugby Men's Sevens Series is an annual series of international rugby sevens tournaments run by World Rugby featuring national sevens teams. Organised for the first time in the 1999–2000 season as the IRB World Sevens Series, the co ...

circuit for in 2013 and 2014. He debuted at the 2013 Wellington Sevens tournament and played in five tournaments during the 2012–13 IRB Sevens World Series. He also represented them at the

2013 Rugby World Cup Sevens The 2013 Rugby World Cup Sevens was the sixth edition of the Rugby World Cup Sevens. The tournament was held at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, Russia. New Zealand won the tournament, defeating England 33–0 in the final. Attendance for the tourname ...

as they were knocked out in the quarter-finals, before being part of the squad that won gold at the

2013 World Games The 2013 World Games ( es, Juegos Mundiales 2013), the ninth World Games, were an international multi-sport event held in the city of Cali, Colombia, from July 25 to August 4. Host city allocation history The 2013 World Games were initially al ...

Cali Santiago de Cali (), or Cali, is the capital of the Valle del Cauca department, and the most populous city in southwest Colombia, with 2,227,642 residents according to the 2018 census. The city spans with of urban area, making Cali the secon ...

. In December 2013, Senatla extended his contract with SARU until December 2016. He featured in a further five tournaments during the

2013–14 IRB Sevens World Series The 2013–14 IRB Sevens World Series, known for sponsorship reasons as the HSBC Sevens World Series, was the 15th annual series of rugby union sevens tournaments for full national sides. The IRB Sevens World Series has been run by the Internation ...

and topped the try-scoring charts for the Blitzbokke, scoring 29 tries during the season.

Junior World Championship

Senatla was selected in the South Africa Under-20 side that played in the

2013 IRB Junior World Championship The 2013 IRB Junior World Championship was the sixth annual international rugby union competition for Under 20 national teams. The event was organised in France by rugby's governing body, the IRB. A total of twelve nations played in the tournament ...

in France. He scored four tries in their opening match, a 97–0 victory over the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

. He got another two tries in their 31–24 victory over eventual champions

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

, and played in their match against hosts

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

. He played in their semi-final clash with

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

, where South Africa suffered an 18–17 defeat. He was also in the run-on side that met

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

in the third-placed play-off and scored one of six South African tries as they beat New Zealand 41–34 to secure third-place.

Western Province / Stormers

The contract that Senatla signed with SARU in December 2013 also allowed him to play for in the

competition. In July 2014, he was selected on the bench for the

2014 Super Rugby The 2014 Super Rugby season is the fourth season of the 15-team format for the Super Rugby competition involving teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. For sponsorship reasons, this competition is known as Asteron Life Super Rugby ...

match between the (the

franchise aligned with Western Province) for their second-last match of the season against the in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second larges ...

. Senatla played in and won the 2014 Currie Cup final.

2016 Summer Olympics

Senatla was included in a 12-man squad for the 2016 Summer Olympics in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of the same name, Brazil's List of Brazilian states by population, third-most populous state, and the List of largest citi ...

. He was named in the starting line-up for their first match in Group B of the competition against

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' ( Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

, scoring a try as South Africa won the match 24–0.

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Senatla, Seabelo 1993 births Living people Commonwealth Games gold medallists for South Africa Commonwealth Games medallists in rugby sevens Commonwealth Games rugby sevens players for South Africa Competitors at the 2013 World Games Olympic rugby sevens players for South Africa Rugby sevens players at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Rugby sevens players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Rugby union players from Welkom Rugby union wings South Africa international rugby sevens players South Africa Under-20 international rugby union players South African rugby union players Stormers players Western Province (rugby union) players World Games gold medalists Medallists at the 2014 Commonwealth Games