Mpho Mbiyozo (born 7 February 1983) is a former South African

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

player who played with and the between 2005 and 2013. He usually played as a flanker. He is currently a coach at the ' academy, the Boland Rugby Institute, having previously been the skills and lineout coach with and also being involved with the Kenyan national team.

Career

Youth

He was born in Lusikisiki, went to school at Grey High School in Port Elizabeth and represented in various youth competitions until being included in the

2005 Vodacom Cup The 2005 Vodacom Cup was the 8th edition of this annual domestic cup competition. The Vodacom Cup is played between provincial rugby union teams in South Africa from the Currie Cup The Currie Cup is South Africa's premier domestic rugby union ...

squad.

Senior career

In 2006, he was called into the South African Sevens rugby team, making some domestic appearances for and the . He represented the national sevens team until 2009, when he announced he wanted to return to the fifteen-a-side game. He joined the in 2010. Mpho also made history during the 2009 British & Irish Lions tour to South Africa, when he became the first player to score a try for the newly created Southern Kings rugby franchise.

2013 Southern Kings Super Rugby season

He was included 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 Brum ...

, but failed to make any of their initial matchday squads. Instead, he was the regular captain of the team in their

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 First ...

campaign, leading them to their best performance up to that point in the Vodacom Cup by reaching the semi-finals. He played in seven of their nine games that season and scored three tries, making him the joint top try scorer for the EP Kings in that competition. He was eventually named as a starter for the for their final Super Rugby match of the regular 2013 Super Rugby season against the .

Vigo

Mbiyozo also had a season playing for Spanish side

Vigo Vigo ( , , , ) is a city and municipality in the province of Pontevedra, within the autonomous community of Galicia, Spain. Located in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula, it sits on the southern shore of an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean, the ...

in the

2014–15 División de Honor de Rugby The 2014–15 División de Honor was the 48th season of the top flight of the Spanish domestic rugby union competition since its inception in 1953. Regular season began on 13 September 2014 and finished on 3 May 2015. The playoffs began on 17 May ...

. He made 20 appearances and scored 10 tries, to finish in the top ten of the try-scoring charts of the competition. However, despite his efforts, his side finished bottom of the log to be relegated to the

División de Honor B de Rugby División de Honor B is the second level of Spanish league competition for rugby union clubs. The league began in 1998 and consists of three groups (North, East and South) of 8 or 9 teams each. The two top teams of each group and two best 3rd-plac ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mbiyozo, Mpho South African rugby union players Eastern Province Elephants players Boland Cavaliers players Southern Kings players Western Province (rugby union) players Living people 1983 births South Africa international rugby sevens players Rugby union flankers