The choirboy that would be a Bok
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Lizo Gqoboka's rise to rugby stardom has been meteoric with the burly prop only picking up the game five years ago after turning his back on it to be part of the choir.
The Kings prop has been invited to two separate Springbok training camps with the latest being in Stellenbosch where the national team is preparing for their Northern Hemisphere tour.
Clearly the management team can see something special in this young man who is a few steps away from reaching the highest level of the game in five short years.
Gqoboka is a player that is out to learn and improve his game whenever he has the chance, and by being surrounded by the best the country has to offer is an experience that he is relishing.
"It has been an amazing experience, I have learnt so much," the prop said form the Springbok camp in Stellenbosch.
"It was my focus coming here to learn as much as I could from the guys – there are some great guys here that are always willing to go the extra mile to help you.
"Guys like Beast [Tendai Mtawarira], Jannie [Du Plessis] Jean [De Villiers] and Victor [Matfield]."
Gqoboka's story of how he reached this chapter in his life is a fascinating one which shows the determination of the man.
"It is only this year that I started specialising on loosehead [prop] but I do still cover tighthead, I played tighthead since 2011," Gqoboka went on.
"For now I am just focusing on loosehead and I have felt my growth speed-up with this specialisation.
"I started rugby very late, so I am basically still catching up and focusing on two positions would distract me.
"I started playing rugby in 2009, I played first team soccer before that.
"There was no rugby in my high school at all.
"At primary school, in about grade five, there was a bit of bare-foot rugby which I messed around with but I soon stopped that and went to join the Choir!"
Gqoboka started his rugby career in earnest when he took a leap of faith and quit his job in Durban to apply for the Eastern Province Kings' academy.
"I went to Under-21 trials at the Kings, but I got there three weeks early so my boss in Durban lost his mind demanding that I come back.
"I decided to just quit my job before the trials.
"I had faith and I believed I could do it so I gave it a shot and I got into the academy!"
Many people, including Gqoboka, are astounded that he has been included into the Springbok frame so quickly, but he puts it down to the hard work he has done in in such a short period of time.
"It came quicker than I was expecting but it was always my dream to play for the Springboks and to be a part of the group, it is an amazing experience and people still can't believe how it happened – but it is a lot of hard work," he concluded.
Darryn Pollock
@darrynjack365
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