Sylvian Mahuza (born ) is a South African professional

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 its m ...

player. He can play as a winger, centre or fullback.

Career

Youth and Varsity Cup rugby

In 2009, he was called up to represent the Under-16 side at the Grant Khomo Week competition. In 2010 and 2011, he played for their Under-18 side at the

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 tou ...

tournament. After high school in 2012, however, he moved to

Potchefstroom Potchefstroom (, colloquially known as Potch) is an academic city in the North West Province of South Africa. It hosts the Potchefstroom Campus of the North-West University. Potchefstroom is on the Mooi Rivier (Afrikaans for "pretty river" ...

, where he got involved in the youth setup of the provincial side, the , as well as playing rugby for

Varsity Cup Varsity Cup is the collective name for four South African rugby union competitions involving the top rugby playing universities in the country. It was launched in 2008, with eight teams participating in the Varsity Cup competition and each univers ...

side . Mahuza made eleven appearances in the team during the

2012 Under-19 Provincial Championship The 2012 ABSA Under-19 Provincial Championship was contested from 13 July to 27 October 2012. The tournament featured the Under-19 players from the fourteen Currie Cup unions. Competition Division A There were seven participating teams in the 201 ...

season, scoring three tries. In 2013, he played four matches in the

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 part ...

, which included a match against in which he scored two tries. In the

competition, he played six matches for the during the

2013 Varsity Cup The 2013 Varsity Cup was contested from 4 February to 8 April 2013. The tournament (also known as the ''FNB Varsity Cup presented by Steinhoff International'' for sponsorship reasons) was the sixth season of the Varsity Cup, an annual inter-univer ...

competition, scoring two tries. He made eight appearances during the 2014 edition of the competition and ran in six tries (making him the second top try scorer in the competition) as the NWU Pukke reached the final.

South Africa Under-20

Mahuza was also included in the South Africa Under-20 side that played against their

Argentinean Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish language, Spanish (Grammatical gender, masculine) or (Grammatical gender, feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be resident ...

counterparts prior to the

2013 IRB Junior World Championship The 2013 IRB Junior World Championship was the sixth annual international rugby union competition for Under 20 national teams. The event was organised in France by rugby's governing body, the IRB. A total of twelve nations played in the tournament ...

, but failed to make the final squad for the tournament.

Leopards

Mahuza's first involvement in first team action came during 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 ...

season. He made his debut against the , playing off the bench and scoring his first try within ten minutes of appearing. He made two further substitute appearances against the and . Mahuza's next taste of first class action came during the

2014 Currie Cup qualification The 2014 Currie Cup qualification series was a tournament organised by the South African Rugby Union. It featured seven teams and was played in June and July 2014, with the winner qualifying for the 2014 Currie Cup Premier Division. The remaining ...

tournament. He started in five of their matches during the competition. Prior to the last round of matches, he was the joint-top try scorer in the league, with a brace of tries against the and the and one each against and putting him on a total of six tries. In their last match of the competition against the , Mahuza and teammate Luther Obi, who was also on six tries for the season before the match – scored four tries each to help the Leopards to a 103–15 victory, which also meant that Mahuza and Obi finished the competition as joint-top try scorers, with ten tries apiece.

Eastern Province Kings

In February 2015, Mahuza – along with fellow winger Luther Obi – started training with

Port Elizabeth Gqeberha (), formerly Port Elizabeth and colloquially often 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 Municipality, Sou ...

-based side the , following a dispute about the validity of their contracts with the . An agreement was reached and Mahuza officially joined the Kings on 27 February. He made his debut for the EP Kings by starting their first match of the

2015 Vodacom Cup The 2015 Vodacom Cup was contested from 6 March to 30 May 2015. The tournament was the 18th edition of the Vodacom Cup, an annual domestic South African rugby union competition, and was played between the fourteen provincial teams in South Africa ...

season, a 19–27 defeat to defending champions . After just one season at the Kings, Mahuza left prior to the

2016 Super Rugby season The 2016 Super Rugby season was the 21st season of Super Rugby and the first season featuring an expanded 18-team format. It was also the first season that teams outside Australia, New Zealand and South Africa featured, with the Jaguares from Ar ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mahuza, Sylvian South African rugby union players Living people 1993 births Rugby union players from George, South Africa Rugby union centres Rugby union wings Rugby union fullbacks Leopards (rugby union) players Eastern Province Elephants players Lions (United Rugby Championship) players Golden Lions players Urayasu D-Rocks players South African expatriate rugby union players in Japan Shizuoka Blue Revs players