KZN side mourn death of star

The gifted loose forward committed suicide when he jumped off Margate Pier last Wednesday.

His body surfaced at the pier on Saturday morning and was identified earlier this week.

He was 25-years-old.

A product of Port Shepstone High School, Dlamini Mzizi represented KwaZulu-Natal at Under-18 level and was a key player in the Uvongo-based Warriors second and third teams for several seasons.

He was seemingly in the prime of his life and rugby career at the start of the year.

He impressed with his combination of power and pace in the Nashua South Coast Sevens in February and was included in the Warriors first team squad.

However, a shoulder injury that he sustained during a pre-season warm-up match against College Rovers sidelined him for the majority of the season.

Dlamini Mzizi supported his team-mates from the sidelines during his rehabilitation and made his return when he helped the third team to a 59-7 home win over Amangcesha in their penultimate match of the season in August.

Third team player/coach MG Röscher played with Dlamini Mzizi for most of his time at the First Division club and said he was stunned when he heard his teammate had taken his own life, especially since he had gotten engaged weeks before his suicide.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Röscher told eHowz!t.

“During the season, he phoned me every week to find out where the team would be playing and attended every one of our home games.

“The last time I spoke to him, about two months ago, he told me he was really looking forward to next season.

“He was a real gentleman; always friendly and a great teammate.

“He will be dearly missed by everyone at the Warriors.”

Neill Theunissen, who took over the second team coaching reigns this season, told eHowz!t: “I didn’t really get an opportunity to coach Siyanda but from what I saw and heard, he had the potential to be a really good rugby player.

“The couple of times that we did have a conversation, he struck me as passionate and knew what he wanted in life.

“He was humble and a well-behaved young man.”