Kayle van Zyl

Kayle van Zyl

Personal information
Full name	Kayle Deon van Zyl
Born	(1991-12-10) 10 December 1991 Johannesburg
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Weight	91 kg (14 st 5 lb)
School(s) attended	Hoërskool Nico Malan, Humansdorp
University	Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University
Club information
Playing position	Fullback / Scrum-half / Wing
Current club	Zebre
Youth career
2009–13	Eastern Province Kings
Amateur team(s)
Years	Team
2014	NMMU Madibaz	2	(0)
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Pts)†
2013–14	Eastern Province Kings	18	(35)
2014–15	Mogliano	17	(55)
2015–	Zebre	16	(30)
* Senior club appearances and points correct as of 16 February 2016. † Appearances (Points).

Kayle Deon van Zyl is a South African rugby union player, currently playing with Italian side Zebre in the Pro12 competition and the European Rugby Challenge Cup. His regular position is fullback. He also plays wing or scrum-half.

Career

Youth

Van Zyl was selected to represent Eastern Province at the Under-18 Craven Week tournament in 2009. The following season, he joined the Eastern Province Kings Academy and he played for the Eastern Province U19 side in the 2010 Under-19 Provincial Championship. He was a key player for the Eastern Province U21 side in the 2012 Under-21 Provincial Championship, scoring 71 points in eight appearances. This included a remarkable personal haul in their opening match, when he scored 36 of his team's points in a 61–3 victory over Boland U21, comprising four tries and eight conversions and was awarded Man of the Match.

He was invited by the NNK Northlink, Western Cape Rugby Club [1] invitational side that represented South Africa to play in the 43rd HSBC COBRA 10s in November 2012 where they were Runner Up in the Plate Final in COBRA Rugby Tens in Malaysia.

Eastern Province Kings

He was included in the senior squad for the 2013 Vodacom Cup. He made his debut in a 17–13 victory in their Round Four match against Free State XV, coming on as a second-half substitute. Two more appearances off the bench followed – firstly against the SWD Eagles in a 52–10 victory and then against the Sharks XV in a match that the Kings won 27–23 and Van Zyl scored his first senior points, contributing seven points with the boot – before his first start in their match against the Boland Cavaliers, a match which also saw him score his first career try in a 27–23 win to help the EP Kings finish in third place on the log and qualify for the quarter-finals. He appeared in the quarter-final, as a remarkable fight-back saw his side win 34–31 despite being 13–31 down with eight minutes left to play. He also started their semi-final match, which ended in a 13–39 loss to the Pumas in Nelspruit.

He also featured during their 2013 Currie Cup First Division campaign, making nine appearances. He made his Currie Cup debut in their match against the SWD Eagles in George, kicking a conversion in the second-last minute to clinch a 35–34 victory for the Kings. This was his first of eight substitute appearances during the season. His only start came during their match against the Falcons in the penultimate round of the competition. Van Zyl scored a try in extra time of their Semi-final match against the Leopards to help them to a 32–29 victory after the sides finished 22–22 after normal time and in a nail biting clash against Leopards going into 20 minutes extra time, he came on in the 89th minute and lead Kings to win by scoring in the 95th minute of the game. He also played in the final, coming on in the 58th minute, but could not prevent the Kings slumping to a 30–53 defeat to the Pumas, with Van Zyl once again scoring a late try in the 81st minute of the match.

At the start of 2014, Van Zyl came back from injury to play some Varsity Cup rugby with NMMU Madibaz, making two appearances. He then returned to the side for the 2014 Vodacom Cup, where he made three appearances as a substitute and kicking five points in their final Southern Section match against the previously-unbeaten Sharks XV to help the Kings to a 27–11 victory, a result that still failed to see them qualify for the quarter-finals of the competition.

Mogliano 2014-2015

In August 2014, Van Zyl moved to Italy to join National Championship of Excellence side Mogliano Rugby on a two-year contract. He played for them in a friendly match against Petrarca in September, before being included in their senior squad for the 2014–15 National Championship of Excellence.

He eventually played seventeen matches for Mogliano in the competition, starting sixteen matches as fullback and making one appearance off the bench. He contributed a total of 55 points (scoring eleven tries) and was named the Man of the Match after scoring two tries in their match against Lazio on 1 November 2014. He helped Mogliano finish in third position in the regular season, winning eleven of their eighteen matches to qualify for the title play-off semi-finals. He scored two tries in a 24–23 victory in the second leg of their semi-final against Calvisano at their Peroni Stadium on 24 May 2015; however this was not enough, as Calvisano progressed to the final by winning 53–39 on aggregate.

Van Zyl was the joint-top try scorer (alongside team-mate Marco Filippucci) in the 2014–2015 National Championship of Excellence with eleven tries, playing 1310 minutes, scoring 11 tries.

Zebre 2015-2016

After the 2014–15 National Championship of Excellence, it was announced that Van Zyl was contracted by Parma-based Zebre for the 2015–16 Pro12 season. Scoring his first try for Zebre in the third minute of their Round Six match against the Cardiff Blues, helping Zebre to a 26–15 bonus-point win. where Zebre claimed their second Pro12 victory 26-15 bonus point at the Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi.

Then scoring his second and third try in their Round 9 match at home to the Ospreys, scoring in the 5th and 75th minutes of a 22–39 defeat.

His fourth try in the Guinness Pro12 competition for Zebre in Round 21, was in the 20th minute against Glasgow Warriors on the 29th April 2016 at Scotstoun Stadium, Scotland.

He scored his fifth try in the 2015–16 Pro12 for Zebre in Round 22 in the 18th minute against Newport Gwent Dragons on the 7th May 2016. in a victory for Zebre 47-22 at the Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi where Zebre secured a place in next season's European Rugby Challenge Cup in their most successful season to date.

His first try in the European Rugby Challenge Cup was on 16 January 2016 in their Pool 4 match against Worcester Warriors at Sixways Stadium, scoring in the 14th minute of the match in a 22–15 victory.

He played 25 matches, 1845 minutes, 6 tries and contributed 30 points for Zebre during the season.