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.
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