Player Profile – Phiwayinkosi Kubheka (Maritzburg College)
Phiwayinkosi Kubheka first captured the national spotlight in the 2023 rugby season. Maritzburg College was facing Grey College at the North-South Tournament in Pretoria. It was expected to be another straightforward Grey victory. It turned out to be anything but that.
Early in the game, Grey’s big 8th-man JJ Theron, who would go on to captain South African Schools, picked up the ball at the back of a ruck, and broke around the left. In front of him was College’s loosehead prop, Kubheka. Theron dropped his shoulder and tried to run over Kubheka. It didn’t happen. He was stopped in his tracks, driven backwards, and landed on his back. Introduction and statement made!
Recalling that meeting with his future SA Schools’ team-mate, Kubheka said: “I don’t think there was much to it, because it was probably my weak shoulder. I don’t think about it. I just go at it. It’s just a mentality that I came with.”
After that game, which Grey College won 37-24, but which was certainly a lot closer than the scoreline makes it appear, the KZN side was on rugby fans’ radars, and their big, mobile, and abrasive, loosehead had become a fan favourite.
Big guys don’t usually get through much work as ball carriers and tacklers, but Phiwayinkosi Kubheka exhibited some of the qualities that one expects a good loose forward to have.
Towards the end of 2023, Kubheka was appointed Deputy Head Prefect of Maritzburg College. It was a prestigious position and a vote of confidence in his character and leadership.
Maritzburg College is also a school with a very rich rugby history. Success and playing the College way on the field – hard, uncompromising and fair – is important, not just to the players but also to the school’s very loyal old boys. Kubheka, recognising this, chose to voluntarily step down from his position as Deputy Head Prefect. It couldn’t have been an easy decision, but he felt he couldn’t do justice to either role if he stuck with both.
He’s a humble, well-spoken leader, but his nickname, “Rambo“, wouldn’t suggest that. Then again, it reflects his physical approach to the game.
Interestingly, it wasn’t his College team-mates who gave him the name, he shared: “Two of my mates, from Northwood… We were having a district practice and a KZN practice and they just started calling me Rambo back then.
“I think it was off a ruck, because I was quick back then, so immediately from a ruck I would join the backs, some way somehow. Then, they just started calling me by that name.”
Kubheka has good hands, and he passes well to both sides, which further catches the eye. Big guys aren’t supposed to do that. But he does. His secret? Touch rugby.
“I think that helped me a lot, especially passing with my weak hand, because when you are playing against backline players you want to play it quickly through the hands. I think that put me at an advantage over other forwards, who maybe can’t pass with both hands and have the skillset.
Although he might not be as fast as he once was, the College captain is a load and opponents know they are in for a take-no-prisoners, bruising battle when they face the Red, Black and White. Dishing out punishment means taking hard knocks at the same time and it takes a toll, Kubheka admitted.
“I think it’s a build-up,” he said, “so you don’t necessarily feel it in the mid-season, but you feel it maybe in the last four games. That’s when you have to wake up in the morning and go to the gym and you can feel your body is a bit reluctant. You start to not slack off, but you can just feel yourself not being yourself, in terms of your body. Mentally, you still want to carry on.
“I would carry on forever but then the body also takes preference. So, fortunately, we have staff, including strength and conditioning coaches, physios, and even the rugby coaches, who assist us in terms of us getting our rehab done and us taking time off, getting off our feet and all of that.”
Following on from an impressive 2023 season, which finished with him wearing the green and gold of South Africa, Kubheka has a single goal and it’s not flamboyant. That’s not his style. It’s very simple: to leave the jersey in a better place. That, very much, is the Maritzburg College way.
Before joining the Red, Black and White, he attended Monument Primary School in Ladysmith. When he attended KZN u13 trials, it was hard to miss to burly front-ranker. Maritzburg College noticed him and presented his mother with a prospectus, hoping that College might be a consideration for his future in high school.
There were other schools who expressed an interest in him, but his mother said she would pray about it. It was not her decision, she told her son, it was God’s. The answer was Maritzburg College.
Many people helped him on his rugby journey through the ranks and up to the 1st XV at Maritzburg College, Kubheka said. Most of all, he stated, his mother and his faith have played the biggest role.
His mom has sacrificed a lot for him, he explained: “She’s done more than enough, in my opinion. I don’t think, if another parent was in my mother’s shoes, they would have survived.”
For Phiwayinkosi Kubheka, rugby is not just about winning, it’s about brotherhood, another of those qualities that Maritzburg College focusses upon. It’s about knowing that your brother has your back, no matter the challenge. It was what enabled College to take the game to Grey College in that 2023 clash. And it caught many people unawares.
While they didn’t pull off a win against Grey, they scored a spectacular 50-31 victory over Affies in Pretoria later in the season, and wins over the Pretoria school had been few and far between in recent years.
It was the brotherhood that stood out to him in that game. Affies scored the first two tries, both converted, and College responded with penalties. They were eight points down, but there was no backing away from the fight. He could see it in the eyes of his team-mates. It was a hard-fought game but, in the end, College won comfortably.
Hearing old boys call out the names of the players told him they were doing something right. “You feel the weight of the jersey, not being heavy but being meaningful.
“This jersey is about more than playing rugby. It’s about people who have worn it in the past and lifted it into a better place for me.”
It says something about his character that the game he chooses as his most memorable wasn’t a victory for College. It was his first start in the 1st XV, in the first game of the 2023 season, which College lost 20-27 at Michaelhouse.
He explained: “From grade eight, almost every single rugby player wants to play 1st team. Even the people who don’t play rugby, still want to go to the games.
“Just to experience that feeling, running onto the park, with the white badge, that was… a blessing in disguise because I didn’t know what the future held. But I knew with me being in this setup, I’m going to try to contribute, not only to better myself, but to show that I believe in what the coaches have put into place, and especially the circle around me, the brothers next to me.
“I’m with them to the very end. As you say, we fight, we fight till the bitter end, so I was willing to do that with the white badge on my chest.”
That mindset is a leader’s mindset, someone you can trust and believe in, someone who sets an example, and who always has his brother’s back. That’s why Phiwayinkosi Kubheka was entrusted with leading Maritzburg College in 2024.
