Tango Balekile (born 7 March 1996) 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 its m ...

player for the in the

Pro14 The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. The current name was adopted in 2021 when the league expanded to include four South Afr ...

and the 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. His regular position is hooker.

Rugby career

2012–14: Schools rugby

Balekile was born in

East London East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the f ...

and also grew up there, attending

Selborne College Selborne College is a semi-private English medium male-only high school situated in the suburb of Selborne (the suburb was named after the school) of East London in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa; it is one of the few colleges in the ...

. He captained and played rugby for them which resulted in a number or provincial call-ups to represent the Border Rugby Union at various tournaments. In 2012 he played for their Under-16 team at the Grant Khomo Week held in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

, in 2013 he played for their Under-18 team at the Academy Week held at Glenwood High School 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 ...

and in 2014, he captained and played for their

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 ...

team at the tournament held in

Middelburg Middelburg may refer to: Places and jurisdictions Europe * Middelburg, Zeeland, the capital city of the province of Zeeland, southwestern Netherlands ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Middelburg, a former Catholic diocese with its see in the Zeeland ...

2015: Eastern Province Under-19

Prior to the 2015 season, Balekile moved to

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 ...

to join the academy. He was included in the squad that competed in Group A of the 2015 Under-19 Provincial Championship. He played off the bench in their first two matches of the season and scored a try for the team in the second of those, a 41–24 win over . After starting against and appearing as a replacement against , he then firmly established himself as their first-choice hooker, starting their remaining eight matches during the regular season. Eastern Province won eleven of their twelve matches to finish top of the log and to qualify for a home semi-final. Balekile started their 31–15 victory over in the semi-final and the final, in which his side beat the Blue Bulls 25–23 in

to win the competition for the first time in their history.

2016: Eastern Province Kings, NMMU Madibaz and South Africa Under-20

At the start of 2016, Balekile played rugby for university side in the

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 ...

competition. He started in a close match, a 25–27 home defeat to , he played in two more matches as NMMU finished second-last on the log. In March 2016, he was included in a South Africa Under-20 training squad, also making the cut for a reduced provisional squad named a week later. In between training with the team, he returned to the Eastern Province Kings to make a single appearance for them in the

2016 Currie Cup qualification The 2016 Currie Cup qualification series was a South African rugby union competition organised by the South African Rugby Union which was played between 9 April and 23 July 2016. It featured all fourteen South African provincial unions plus the f ...

series, making his first class debut in a 14–28 loss to

Eastern Cape The Eastern Cape is one of the provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, but its two largest cities are East London and Gqeberha. The second largest province in the country (at 168,966 km2) after Northern Cape, it was formed in ...

rivals the . On 10 May 2016, he was included in the final South Africa Under-20 squad for the

2016 World Rugby Under 20 Championship The 2016 World Rugby Under 20 Championship was the ninth annual international rugby union competition for Under 20 national teams. The event was organised in England by rugby's governing body, World Rugby. Twelve nations took part in the tournamen ...

tournament to be held in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. He started their opening match in Pool C of the tournament as South Africa came from behind to beat

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

59–19, and also started their next pool match as South Africa were beaten 13–19 by

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. He dropped to the bench for their final pool match, coming on shortly after half-time as South Africa bounced back to secure a 40-31 bonus-point victory over

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

to secure a semi-final place as the best runner-up in the competition. He was restored to the starting line-up for the semi-final, as South Africa faced three-time champions

. The hosts proving too strong for South Africa, knocking them out of the competition with a 39–17 victory. Balekile was again named on the bench against, due to injury

for the third-place play-off match, again coming on just after half-time as Argentina beat South Africa – as they did in the pool stages – convincingly winning 49–19 and in the process condemning South Africa to fourth place in the competition.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Balekile, Tango 1996 births Living people Eastern Province Elephants players Falcons (rugby union) players Rugby union hookers Rugby union players from East London, South Africa South Africa Under-20 international rugby union players South African rugby union players Southern Kings players Pumas (Currie Cup) players