Siphesihle Qhamani 'Pitsa' Punguzwa (born 21 May 1993 in Butterworth) 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 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

Punguzwa represented his home province of Border at both the 2009 Under-16 Grant Khomo Week and the 2011 Under-18

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 ...

tournaments. He then moved to

Port Elizabeth Gqeberha ( , ), formerly named Port Elizabeth, and colloquially referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipal ...

to join the . He played in all nine matches of the side's

2013 Under-21 Provincial Championship The 2013 ABSA Under-21 Provincial Championship will be contested from 12 July to 26 October 2013. The tournament will feature the Under-21 players from the fourteen provincial rugby unions in South Africa. Competition Group A There are seven p ...

Division B campaign, making five starts and four substitute appearances and scoring eight tries, the joint-highest by a forward in the competition. His try-scoring feats included braces against and . He also played in their promotion/relegation play-off match against former side , but, despite scoring yet another try in the match, could not help gain promotion to Division A.

Senior career

Punguzwa was included in the for the first time for the

2014 Vodacom Cup The 2014 Vodacom Cup was played between 7 March and 16 May 2014 and was the 17th edition of this annual domestic cup competition. This edition of the Vodacom Cup was played between fourteen provincial rugby union teams in South Africa from th ...

competition and made his senior debut by coming on as a substitute in their 17–10 opening day defeat to

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

n side . Three more substitute appearances followed – with Punguzwa scoring his first senior try for the Kings in their 28–21 victory over – before he was named in the starting line-up for the first time for their match against the in

Durban Durban ( ; , from meaning "bay, lagoon") is the third-most populous city in South Africa, after Johannesburg and Cape Town, and the largest city in the Provinces of South Africa, province of KwaZulu-Natal. Situated on the east coast of South ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Punguzwa, Siphesihle 1993 births Living people People from Mnquma Local Municipality Xhosa people South African rugby union players Eastern Province Elephants players Rugby union flankers Rugby union players from the Eastern Cape Alumni of Selborne College 21st-century South African sportsmen