Mthetheleli Godfrey 'Tazz' Fuzani (born 18 January 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 ...

player for 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 lock, but he has also started as a prop.

Career

Youth and Varsity Rugby

Fuzani was part of the squad at the 2008 Under-18 Academy Week. In 2011, he was included in the squad for the 2011 Varsity Shield competition and played twice in the

2012 Varsity Shield 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

competition, starting the match against as a prop. In

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 ...

, he firmly established himself in the team under former

South Africa national rugby union team The South Africa national rugby union team, commonly known as the Springboks (colloquially the Boks, Bokke or Amabokoboko), is the country's national team governed by the South African Rugby Union. The Springboks play in green and gold jerse ...

coach

Peter de Villiers Peter de Villiers (born 3 June 1957) is a South African professional rugby union coach and Good Party politician. He was coach of the South Africa national rugby union team from 2008 to 2011, after successes with the South African U19 and U21 ...

, starting all nine matches.

Western Province

Fuzani was included in 's squad for 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 ...

and made his first class debut for them a mere five days after playing his final 2013 Varsity Shield match, starting their match against in

Paarl Paarl (; Afrikaans: ; derived from ''Parel'', meaning "pearl" in Dutch) is a town with 112,045 inhabitants in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is the third-oldest city and European settlement in the Republic of South Africa (after ...

. He played in all five remaining matches in that competition and was also included in the

squad, subsequently being named in the starting line-up for Western Province's Round Six match against the .

Stormers

In 2014, Fuzani was called up to the team for the 2014 Super Rugby season and was included on the bench for their match against the in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

Eastern Province Kings

In July 2014, Fuzani's agent confirmed that he would leave

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 ...

at the end of the 2014 season and join Port Elizabeth-based side on a two-year contract. 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 Afric ...

season, a 19–27 defeat to defending champions .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fuzani, Tazz South African rugby union players Living people 1991 births People from Uitenhage Western Province (rugby union) players Rugby union props Rugby union players from the Eastern Cape