Lorenzo Southey - Graeme College Captain
50th appearance for First XV Captain
Lorenzo Southey, playing in his third year for the First XV, will captain Graeme College in this Saturday's FNB Classic Clash against local rivals St. Andrews College. Lorenzo marks this special day where Grahamstown's two boys schools meet with a rare individual feat – this will be the flyhalf's 50th match for the First Team.
Lorenzo explains that this game, played between neighbours barely a couple of kilometres apart, allows "the Graemians to get a lot of respect from the community and respect in general".
He says victory for his team on Saturday at St. Andrews Lower Field would make them realise "we can compete against the best and win".
Born on 12 March 1988 in Steynsburg in the Eastern Cape, Lorenzo attended Union High School in Graaff Reinet for Primary School and Grade Eight. In Grade Nine he decided to come to Graeme. He says: "I came mainly for sport. The level is much higher and we play against a lot more competition."
Lorenzo's brother, Geyer, played wing and fullback for Graeme in a successful 2001 season. In Lorenzo's first year at Graeme in the Under-15A team, Graeme beat St. Andrews. But in his last two years in the First XV, Graeme have lost by the comprehensive margins of 36-10 and 27-3, and will this year start as underdogs once more.
Lorenzo started off last season at flyhalf, and then reverted to fullback. This year the opposite has happened, with Lorenzo now playing in his preferred number 10 jersey, after initially starting the season as the last line of defence. Lorenzo says: "I enjoy flyhalf because I get the ball more and am more in the game." He feels that his personal strength as a rugby player is the same for his team – they all enjoying running with the ball showing off their skills and playing attractive 15-man rugby.
His rugby hero is Crusaders flyhalf Dan Carter. Lorenzo plays in a similar mould to the All Black star and likes to attack the gainline. He is also a points-scoring machine, having scored 98 points in his last six matches, which includes eight tries.
Lorenzo has no concrete plans for the future yet, but plans to continue playing rugby. He hopes to make Eastern Province Craven Week team and from there make enough of an impression to get noticed in the big leagues. He has made the first step there: he is captaining the Albany side after the first round of EP trials.
By Grant Ball
