Siviwe Sonwabile 'Shakes' Soyizwapi (born 7 December 1992 in Maclear) 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 ...

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 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

and

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

, 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 First ...

(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 competiti ...

(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 Brum ...

, 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 a ...

, and made his Super Rugby debut in the 28–28 draw against the in Canberra. 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 signed Soyizwapi on a loan deal to provide cover for them at wing and full-back, following injuries to

Cheslin Kolbe Cheslin Kolbe (born 28 October 1993) is a South African professional rugby union player who currently plays for the South Africa national team and for in the Top 14 in France. His regular position is Wing (rugby union), wing, but he also plays ...

and

Jaco Taute Jacob Johannes Taute (born 21 March 1991) is a South African retired rugby union player. He played as a fullback or centre, he won three caps for . Taute played for the and the in Super Rugby, the and in the Currie Cup, Munster in the Pr ...

. However, he returned to the Kings shortly afterwards.

Sevens

In October 2013, Soyizwapi was called into a

South Africa Sevens The South Africa Sevens is an annual rugby sevens tournament that is held in South Africa. It is currently hosted in Cape Town and is part of the Sevens World Series run by World Rugby. A South African leg of the World series has been include ...

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, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

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 in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Soyizwapi, Siviwe South African rugby union players Southern Kings players Eastern Province Elephants players Living people 1992 births People 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 medallists in rugby sevens Commonwealth Games gold medallists for South Africa Medallists at the 2022 Commonwealth Games