Profile SA

Featuring profiles of South Africans

Thursday, October 13, 2011

CHILIBOY RALEPELLE



At the age of 25, with more than five years playing at Springbok level, popular South African rugby player Mahlatse Ralepelle, more commonly known as Chiliboy, has already had the sports career and leadership opportunities that most people dream of, including the honour of being the youngest person, and the first black player, to captain our green-and-gold national rugby team.

Born in Tzaneen, a small town in the Mopani district of Limpopo province, Mahlatse (which means the blessed one, in Sotho) leant to play rugby at a young age under the guidance of his grandfather, also a rugby player in his youth.

His athletic ability gained Chiliboy a place at Pretoria Boys High School, a school with a proud rugby tradition. He was a member of the school’s Under 15s squad in 2001, and went on to play for the South African schools team in 2002 and 2003 and played for the South African Under 19s in 2004 and quickly built a reputation for himself as one of South Africa’s most promising junior players.

In 2005 he made his international debut for South Africa’s Under 19 side before playing his first professional senior level game for the Bulls in the same year. In 2006 Chiliboy captained the Under 21 Springbok squad in France at the 2006 Under 21 Rugby World Championships, taking his team through to the finals before they were defeated by the host nation.

This fast forwarded the muscular hooker’s career and earned him a place on the Springbok senior squad with a selection for the 2006 Tri Nations Series. He made his international debut for the Springboks on 26 August 2006 against the All Blacks, playing at his home grounds at Loftus Versfeld during the 2006 Six Nations Tournament and got to achieve the dream of captaining the Springbok team for one game in the same year.

He’s played consistently at provincial level for the Blue Bulls since 2006, represented the Bulls in the international Super 14s since 2005 and been part of the Springbok squad since 2006 but Chiliboy has had a bit of a stop-start career that has been plagued by injury and the need to share field time between strong players, allowing him only about 20 caps in five years. But he’s currently in fine form and appears to be about to live up to the promise and potential he showed in the junior ranks.

2011 looks set to be the year Chiliboy is proves his ability. After the dark cloud of knee injuries and testing positive for a banned substance in the UK in 2010 (from which he and South African winger, Bjorn Basson, were cleared –the banned substance was part of a nutritional supplement provided to the Springbok team), the powerful player has emerged with determination to prove he’s more than South Africa’s third-choice hooker.

The drug scandal, and troubles he was exposed to as a result, proved to be an important, if uncomfortable, learning curve for Chiliboy. “What I learned was that you need to focus on the present and do as much as you can in the moment, because once it's taken away from you, you can never get it back,” he said in a recent interview with the Sunday Times.

He’s dropped from 108 or 109kgs to 105 – which he calls his fighting weight, giving him more speed and agility and has changed his game plan. His new philosophy is that you have to throw the first punch – that first hit can carry you through and give you the confidence you need says Chiliboy.

Chiliboy has just signed up for another two years, playing hooker in the Bulls pack, putting his muscle and a good throwing arm behind his Loftus Versfeld team, at least until October 2013.

 He’s currently playing exceptionally well and turned on a burning performance against the Sharks in Durban in June, winning the team prize for the most tackles of the match (15 in 55 minutes). His hot performance has continued, with Chiliboy scoring his maiden Test try against the All Blacks in Wellington as part of the Tri Nations games in July.

Chili as his team mates call him, is currently playing brilliantly according to Blue Bulls coach Pine Pienaar and performed well in recent tests against Australia and New Zealand – and is believed to be a strong contender for selection for the South Africa’s Rugby World Cup squad in New Zealand in September, where his regained form and confidence could help boost the Springbok’s performance and add zest to Chiliboy’s career as one of South Africa’s bright rugby stars and ambassadors.