{"id":216933,"date":"2022-02-18T01:36:18","date_gmt":"2022-02-17T23:36:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mypr.co.za\/?p=113017"},"modified":"2022-02-18T01:36:18","modified_gmt":"2022-02-17T23:36:18","slug":"from-res-league-to-varsity-cup-for-madibaz-speedster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/from-res-league-to-varsity-cup-for-madibaz-speedster\/","title":{"rendered":"From res league to Varsity Cup for Madibaz speedster"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"scaip scaip-1 \">\n<aside id=\"republication_tracker_tool-2\" class=\"republication_tracker_tool clearfix\">\n<h5 class=\"adtitle\">Republish for Free<\/h5>\n<div class=\"license\">\n<p><button name=\"Republish This Story\" id=\"cc-btn\" class=\"republication-tracker-tool-button\">Republish This Story<\/button><\/p>\n<p><a class=\"license\" rel=\"noreferrer license noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nd\/4.0\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Creative Commons License\" class=\"lazyload\" src=\"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/from-res-league-to-varsity-cup-for-madibaz-speedster.png\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Creative Commons License\" src=\"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/from-res-league-to-varsity-cup-for-madibaz-speedster.png\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"message\">\n<p>Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<\/aside>\n<figure id=\"attachment_113018\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-113018\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/mypr.co.za\/?attachment_id=113018\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt width=\"300\" height=\"201\" class=\"wp-image-113018 size-thumbnail lazyload\" src=\"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/from-res-league-to-varsity-cup-for-madibaz-speedster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-113018 size-thumbnail\" src=\"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/from-res-league-to-varsity-cup-for-madibaz-speedster.jpg\" alt width=\"300\" height=\"201\"><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-113018\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">FNB Madibaz wing Khakalethu Bophi goes on the attack against Wits in their FNB Varsity Cup rugby clash in Johannesburg on Monday. Photo: ASEM Engage\/Dominic Barnardt<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>FNB Madibaz wing Khakalethu Bophi is relishing the prospect of playing in front of his home crowd when they take on UP-Tuks in their next FNB Varsity Cup rugby fixture on Monday.<\/p>\n<p>The 23-year-old backline player, affectionately known by his teammates as Flash, is fresh from scoring two tries in this week\u2019s first game against Wits, which the Nelson Mandela University side lost 31-20.<\/p>\n<p>Bophi, who made his Varsity Cup debut against NWU-Pukke last year, admitted next week\u2019s clash at the Madibaz Stadium would be a tough challenge against one of the powerhouses of the competition.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut, yeah, the boys are ready for the Tuks game, and we are looking forward to playing at home with our crowd supporting us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt will be a lot different from last year when we competed in a bio-bubble. From playing in that environment to experiencing a stadium filled with spectators makes a huge difference.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He said he found that Varsity Cup rugby was extremely quick and physical, which made it \u201ca special moment\u201d to cross the line twice against Wits.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe team worked very hard to get the ball to me as quick as possible to score a brace in the corner last night (Monday),\u201d the final year business management student said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was obviously very happy to contribute to the team, although it\u2019s sad that we lost the game. But what mattered most is that we fought until the end.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI feel like there were many positives from the game against Wits, but we learnt that we have to still work a bit more off the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bophi, who grew up in King William\u2019s Town (now Qonce) where he attended De Vos Malan High School, said his Varsity Cup rugby journey almost didn\u2019t happen after he received an athletics bursary from Nelson Mandela University due to his sprinting prowess.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAlthough I started playing rugby when I was seven, the first challenge was to choose between athletics and rugby,\u201d admitted the speedster.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut because I got a bursary for athletics when I was in matric, I chose athletics. Then I realised that, while I was doing athletics, I still loved rugby.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI started playing Res League for fun and then during the Covid lockdown I decided to gym and changed my programmes from athletics to rugby.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI worked so hard that when we got back to varsity and I received a call to join the Madibaz rugby side, it was easier because of the fitness work I had done.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Having had his passion for the game ignited when he represented Border U17 in a sevens tournament in Paarl in 2015, his career developed further in the Res League.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne of my highlights was winning the Res League two years in a row. That was when I caught the eye of the Madibaz coaches and received a call to play in a trial for the Varsity Cup team.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bophi said his approach to life, and rugby, was to keep his feet on the ground.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI believe that staying humble and working hard when no one is watching are very important and this has contributed to my success.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s an attitude he will continue to apply to his rugby as he prepares for one of Varsity Cup\u2019s toughest examinations on Monday.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/mypr.co.za\/contact\/featured\/\">CLICK HERE to submit your press release to MyPR.co.za<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"entry-pagination pagination\">Pages: <span class=\"post-page-numbers current\"><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Page <\/span>1<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/mypr.co.za\/from-res-league-to-varsity-cup-for-madibaz-speedster\/2\/\" class=\"post-page-numbers\"><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Page <\/span>2<\/a><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mypr.co.za\">Source: MyPR.co.za<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Republish for Free Republish This Story Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license. FNB Madibaz wing Khakalethu Bophi goes on the attack against Wits in their FNB Varsity Cup rugby clash in Johannesburg on Monday. Photo: ASEM Engage\/Dominic Barnardt FNB Madibaz wing Khakalethu Bophi is relishing the prospect [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":216934,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9021,1],"tags":[3257],"class_list":{"0":"post-216933","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mypr","8":"category-south-africa","9":"tag-mypr","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/from-res-league-to-varsity-cup-for-madibaz-speedster.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=216933"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216933\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/216934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=216933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=216933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=216933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}