Vodacom Cup Rising Star, Sinovuyo Nyoka
Sinovuyo Nyoka might be small in stature he stands 1.68m tall and weighs just under 80kg but this nuggety scrumhalf of the Steval Pumas plays with massive heart.
The 23-year-old Nyoka hails from King Williams Town and is a born and bred Border Bulldog, whose colours hes been playing in since he represented them at the Coca-Cola Grant Khomo Week for U16s in 2006. He attended Dale College, a couple of years after Keegan Daniel, Bandise Maku and Bjorn Basson.
He made the move north at the end of last season though and with Faf de Klerk on Vodacom Super Rugby duty with the Lions, Nyoka has been the Steval Pumas first-choice scrumhalf in all but one of their matches since the start of the Vodacom Cup.
Nyoka is a former SA Schools player he played in 2008 alongside Pat Lambie, Siya Kolisi and Elton Jantjies and he made his senior debut in 2010 in the Vodacom Cup for the Bulldogs, who he has played for in 49 matches.
He got his big break last year when he was selected for the SA Presidents XV, who were unbeaten as they won the IRB Tbilisi Cup in Georgia. Nyoka started at scrumhalf against Uruguay and Georgia, and played from the bench against Emerging Ireland.
Nyoka is a typical scrumhalf in the sense that he is very quick to the ball, has a great pass and a sniping break with an eye for the gap. His ability to read the game and see and attack space saw him walk away with the Man of the Match award against Uruguay in Georgia last year, where he had a hand in all three of the Presidents XVs tries.
