Wanderers Rugby Club 1st team captain, Busanda Mabena, who reflected on the season, said it was filled with inconsistencies and nail-biting moments.

Mabena joined the club in 2025 while he was looking for a sense of community and friendship.

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“The journey has been different, to say the least- many ups and downs, but plenty to learn from. Being captain means responsibility and accountability, which I’m honoured and excited about and taking it all in my stride. It motivates me to take this club to a better place.”

The captain’s journey in the sport began in the Transkei Drakensburg mountains, in a small town called Ugie, where he was introduced to the game at the age of six at Ugie Primary School.

“I then moved to Graeme College Boys in Makhanda, which is where I was moulded and appreciated the sport like all traditional boys’ schools representing their school’s first team.”

After matriculating, Mabena’s budding rugby career led him to the University of the Western Cape, where he spent three years studying and honing his rugby skills.

“I was then exposed to Varsity Shield in 2017, which is when things changed, and I received a rugby bursary to the University of Cape Town to further my studies.

After a period of ups and downs and many great memories and exposure through Varsity Cup with UCT, I thought I got my chance when I got offers to play professionally, but Covid-19 hit and the world went into lockdown, and those offers disappeared with the uncertainty of the times.”

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In 2022, he played for False Bay Rugby Club, which was one of his proudest moments.

“I played for the 1st team and had a great season, which included us winning the league, and later received a call from Western Province to play for them…my dream had come true.”

After earning two memorable caps for Western Province, in 2024 he decided to pause playing rugby and moved to Johannesburg for work purposes.

Asked how the sport has changed him, he said, “Playing rugby and being captain has made me a people’s person and created communities for me to lean on and learn from.”

Mabena concluded that he wanted his team to remember him as the type of leader who was willing to run through a wall for them and wouldn’t ask the team to do anything he was not willing to do.

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