Siviwe Sonwabile 'Shakes' Soyizwapi (born 7 December 1992 in Maclear) 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 is currently contracted by the

South African Rugby Union 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 ...

to play for the South Africa Sevens national team. His usual position is fullback or winger.

Youth rugby

He played for the at the Under-18 Academy Week in 2010, earning a call-up to the South African Under-18 High Performance team before joining the Academy. He played for them at the Under-21 Provincial Championship level in

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

and

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 ...

, finishing the latter competition as the top try scorer.

Professional career

Eastern Province Kings

He made his first class debut in the 2012 Currie Cup promotion/relegation series against the . Three appearances followed in 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 ...

(scoring one try), as well as five 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 ...

(where he scored three tries) before reverting to the U21 side for the remainder of the season.

Southern Kings

He was initially named in the squad for the

2013 Super Rugby season The 2013 Super Rugby season was the third season of the new 15-team format for the Super Rugby competition involving teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The tournament was won by the Chiefs, who defeated the Canberra-based Brumbi ...

, but was later released to the

squad. Having made just four first-team appearances, he was recalled to the Super Rugby squad following an injury to

Hadleigh Parkes Hadleigh William Parkes (born 5 October 1987) is a New Zealand-born Welsh international rugby union player, whose favoured position is at the centre. He currently plays for the Black Rams Tokyo in the Japan Rugby League One. Parkes also has ...

, and made his Super Rugby debut in the 28–28 draw against the in

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

. He made three starts and three substitute appearances during the 2013 season. In June 2014, he was selected in the starting line-up for the side to face during a tour match during a 2014 incoming tour. He played the entire match and scored the first try for the Kings in the 57th minute of the match as the Kings suffered a 12–34 defeat.

Stormers

Shortly before the start of their

2014 Super Rugby season 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 ...

, the signed Soyizwapi on a loan deal to provide cover for them at wing and full-back, following injuries to Cheslin Kolbe and Jaco Taute. However, he returned to the Kings shortly afterwards.

Sevens

In October 2013, Soyizwapi was called into a South Africa Sevens training squad before the

2013 Dubai Sevens The 2013 Dubai Sevens was the second tournament within the 2013-2014 Sevens World Series. It was held over the weekend of 29–30 November 2013 at The Sevens Stadium in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Format The teams were drawn into four pools of ...

. In November 2015, he joined the South African Sevens team on a two-year contract. In December 2019, Soyizwapi captained the Blitzboks squad in the World Rugby Sevens Series in Dubai. He led the South African Sevens team to the finals against the All Blacks Sevens, earning his very first gold medal with an emphatic 15-0 win on his birthday on 7 December. In 2022, He was part of the South African team that won their second

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which consists mostly, but not exclusively, of territories of the former British Empire. The event was first held in 1930 ...

gold medal in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

. He competed for

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

at the

2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. They defeated

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

to win the bronze medal final.

References

External links

Siviwe Soyizwapi
at Springbok Sevens *
Siviwe Soyizwapi
at the

Paris 2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Soyizwapi, Siviwe South African rugby union players Southern Kings players Eastern Province Elephants players Living people 1992 births Sportspeople from Mthatha Rugby union fullbacks Rugby union wings Rugby sevens players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic rugby sevens players for South Africa Rugby sevens players at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Rugby sevens players at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games gold medallists in rugby sevens Commonwealth Games gold medallists for South Africa Medallists at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Alumni of Dale College Boys' High School Rugby sevens players at the 2024 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for South Africa Medalists at the 2024 Summer Olympics 21st-century South African sportsmen Rugby union players from the Eastern Cape