Kayle van Zyl’s biography, fact, career, awards, net worth and life story

Kayle Deon van Zyl is a South African rugby union player, currently playing with Italian side Zebre in the Pro12 and the European Rugby Challenge Cup competitions. He plays as a Fullback but can also play on either Wing.

Career

Youth

Van Zyl was selected to represent Eastern Province at the Under-13 Craven Week tournament in 2003 and at the Under-18 Craven Week in 2009. He played college rugby in 2009-2010 season for the Gloucestershire-based Hartpury College part of the University of West England before returning to join the Eastern Province Kings Academy, where 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, consisting of four tries and eight conversions. In November 2012, Van Zyl represented NNK Northlink (RSA) at the 43rd HSBC Cobra 10’s 2012 Rugby tens tournament in Malaysia,by helping his side finish as the runner-up in the Plate final.

Eastern Province Kings

He was included in Eastern Province Kings’ 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, and started their semi-final match, which ended in a 13–39 loss to the Pumas in Nelspruit.

He 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 was named on the bench for semi-final match against the Leopards and was an unused replacement the first 80 minutes of the match. However, with the scores level at 22-all, an additional twenty minutes were played and he came on in the 89th minute, scoring a try six minutes later to help his team to a 32–29 victory to progress to the final. He came on as a replacement in the 58th minute of the final against the Pumas, but could not prevent the EP Kings slumping to a 30–53, despite again scoring a late try in the 81st minute of the match.

At the start of 2014, Van Zyl played some Varsity Cup rugby with the NMMU Madibaz, making two appearances. He then returned to the Eastern Province Kings squad 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, although that result still saw them failing to qualify for the quarter-finals of the competition.

Mogliano

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 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. Mogliano finished 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 with team-mate Marco Filippucci in the 2014–2015 National Championship of Excellence, scoring eleven tries. He played 1310 minutes in the Super 10, 2014-2015 season.

Zebre

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. He scored his first try in the 3rd minute of their Round six against Cardiff Blues, where Zebre claimed a 26–15 bonus point victory at the Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi. He scored two tries in Round Nine against Ospreys, scoring in the 5th and 75th minutes of a 22–39 defeat. He scored his first try in the European Rugby Challenge Cup in their Pool 4 match against Worcester Warriors on 16 January 2016 in the 14th minute of the match in a 22–15 victory, He scored his fourth try against Glasgow Warriors in the 20th minute of their Round 21 match in Scotland. He scored his 5th try in the Guinness PRO12 in the 17th minute against Newport Gwent Dragons in Round 22, a match that ended in a 47–22 victory for Zebre to secure a place in the 2016–17 European Rugby Challenge Cup. In total, he played 25 matches during the 2015–16 season, scoring six tries. He played 1601 minutes in the Guinness Pro12, scoring five tries and played 224 minutes in the European Rugby Challenge Cup/Rabodirect, scoring one try during 2015/2016 season. He is the 2nd top try scorer for Zebre in the leading top scorers for the Guinness Pro12 15/16 season.