Siyabonga 'Scarra' Ntubeni (born 18 February 1991) is a 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 ...

footballer who plays as hooker for the in Super Rugby 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 ...

and in the Rugby Challenge.

Career

Ntubeni debuted for both Western Province and the Stormers in 2011, however it wasn't until the 2012 Currie Cup that he really established himself as a first team member. He featured in all of Province's 12 games during that campaign and was instrumental as his side lifted the Currie Cup for the 33rd time. Ntubeni was a starter as Western Province triumphed 25–19 over the in

Durban Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...

. 2013 got off to a slow start as injury ruled him out of the first half of the Stormers

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and ...

, but he did return for the final 8 games and this coincided with an upturn in his sides fortunes following a lacklustre first half of the season. He again made a big impact in the 2013 Currie Cup, taking advantage of Tiaan Liebenberg's injury and skipper Deon Fourie's switch to the flank to again be an ever present member of the side. He started 11 games and made 1 substitute appearance as Province reached the Currie Cup Final for the second year in succession, this time going down 33–19 to the Sharks 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 largest ...

International rugby

On 28 October 2013, SARU announced that Ntubeni was included in the 30-man squad for South Africa's

2013 end-of-year rugby union tests The 2013 end of year rugby tests, also known as the 2013 Autumn internationals in the Northern Hemisphere, were a series of international rugby union matches predominantly played between European sides - England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland an ...

against , and in November 2013; however, he did not play in any of the matches. On 28 May 2016, Ntubeni was included in a 31-man squad for their three-test match series against a touring team. After training with the national team for a few days, he joined the South Africa 'A' squad for their two-match series against a touring

England Saxons England A is England's men's second national rugby union team. The team has previously been known by a number of names, such as England B, Emerging England and, most recently, England Saxons. England A play a key role in the development of emer ...

team. He was named in the starting line-up for their first match in

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 To ...

, but ended on the losing side as the visitors ran out 32–24 winners.

Super Rugby statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ntubeni, Siyabonga 1991 births Living people Rugby union hookers Rugby union players from East London, South Africa South Africa international rugby union players South African rugby union players Stormers players Western Province (rugby union) players Xhosa people