Khanyo Ngcukana

Ngcukana was born in The Hague in the Netherlands, but grew up in Cape Town. He attended Rondebosch Boys' High School, representing them in the Under-16 Grant Khomo Week in 2011^[2] and the premier high school rugby union tournament in South Africa, the Under-18 Craven Week, in 2013.^[3]

After high school, Ngcukana joined the Western Province academy and he was a member of their Under-19 squad that participated in the 2014 Under-19 Provincial Championship. He made four appearances during the regular season to help Western Province qualify for the semi-finals after finishing in third spot on the log.^[4] He started their 29–22 victory over Free State U19 in the semi-final,^[5] as well as the final against the Blue Bulls a week later. He scored Western Province's first try of the match in the 18th minute of the final, as his side won 33–26 to be crowned champions.^[6]

At the start of 2015, Ngcukana played in the Varsity Cup for the UCT Ikey Tigers. He started all eight of their matches in a season that saw them reach the semi-final stage before losing to eventual champions UFS Shimlas. He scored three tries during the competition; two in a 90–8 victory over CUT Ixias^[7] and another in their 40–21 victory over NWU Pukke.^[8]

He was named in a 37-man training squad for the South Africa national under-20 rugby union team^[9] and started for them in a friendly match against a Varsity Cup Dream Team in April 2015.^[10] He was then included in the squad that embarked on a two-match tour of Argentina.^[11] He was not named in the matchday squad for their 25–22 victory over Argentina in their first match^[12] but played the full 80 minutes of a 39–28 victory in the second match four days later.^[13] Upon the team's return to South Africa, he was named in the final squad for the 2015 World Rugby Under 20 Championship in Italy.^[14] He started their 33–5 win against the hosts in their first match,^[15] but didn't feature in their 40–8 victory over Samoa in their second match.^[16] He returned to the starting lineup for final pool match against Australia, scoring one of South Africa's six tries in a 46–13 victory,^[17] and also started in their 20–28 loss to England in the semi-final.^[18] He was omitted from the squad for the third-place play-off match against France, where South Africa achieved a 31–18 win to secure third place in the competition.^[19]

He returned to domestic action for the Western Province U21 team during the 2015 Under-21 Provincial Championship. He appeared in every match that his team played during the season, scoring six tries – two against the Free State in Bloemfontein,^[20] one each in matches against the Leopards^[21] and Sharks^[22] and another two in a 44–38 victory over the Golden Lions in their penultimate match in the regular season.^[23] Western Province finished top of the log with ten victories in their twelve matches to qualify for the title play-offs,^[24] and Ngcukana started both their 43–20 win over the Golden Lions in the semi-finals^[25] and in their 52–17 win over Free State in the final^[26] to win a youth provincial title for the second season in a row.

At the start of 2016 – after two appearances for the UCT Ikey Tigers in the Varsity Cup, scoring a try against defending champions UFS Shimlas^[27] – Ngcukana was included in Western Province's squad for the 2016 Currie Cup qualification series^[28] and made his domestic first class debut in their Round Three match against a Free State XV^[29] He was retained in the starting line-up for their next match against a Golden Lions XV a week later and scored a try – his first in senior rugby – which proved to be crucial in his side's 27–24 victory.^[30] Ngcukana eventually made ten starts for Western Province on the right wing during the competition, contributing five more tries – against a Sharks XV,^[31] Griquas,^[32] the Leopards,^[33] the Falcons^[34] and Namibian side the Welwitschias^[35] – to finish the competition as Western Province joint-highest try-scorer^[36] and helping Western Province finish the competition on top of the log, by winning thirteen of their fourteen matches.^[37]

He was then included in Western Province's squad for the 2016 Currie Cup Premier Division^[38] and named in the starting line-up for their opening match of the season against the Blue Bulls in Pretoria,^[39] playing the full 80 minutes of a 26–45 defeat.^[40]