Nkosi Nofuma
# Nkosi Nofuma

Nkosikhona Nofuma (born 29 April 1988) is a South African professional rugby union player for the Griffons in the Currie Cup and in the Rugby Challenge. He can play as a flanker, number eight or lock.

## Career

### Griffons

Despite being born in the Eastern Cape, Nofuma went to school in Welkom. He was selected to represent the Welkom-based Griffons rugby province at the Under-18 Academy Week in 2005 and then played for a Griffons Country Districts side at the same competition in 2006.

After high school, he continued to progress through age-group rugby at the Griffons; he played for the Griffons U19s in the 2007 Under-19 Provincial Championship and for the Griffons U21s in the 2009 Under-21 Provincial Championship. However, he failed to break into their senior squad.

### UFH Blues

In 2011, Nofuma represented the rugby team of Alice-based university side University of Fort Hare in the Varsity Shield competitions in 2011, 2012 and 2013. He scored four tries for them during the 2013 edition, getting a brace in their match against UKZN Impi and one each in their matches against UWC and eventual champions CUT Ixias.

### Border Bulldogs

He was one of several amateur players brought into the Border Bulldogs provincial set-up at the start of 2014 after the professional side was declared bankrupt. He was included in their squad for the 2014 Vodacom Cup competition and made his debut in their First Round match against Sharks XV, suffering a 24–46 defeat. He featured in a defeat in the Eastern Cape derby against the Eastern Province Kings in their next match and helped the Border Bulldogs to an 18–17 win in their next match against Kenyan side Simba XV, their only victory of the competition. His first start for the Border Bulldogs came in their 16–29 defeat to Western Province in their next match and he made a further three appearances, to bring his tally in the competition to seven.

Nofuma was retained for their 2014 Currie Cup qualification campaign and he made his debut in the Currie Cup competition in their opening-day 5–52 defeat to Griquas. He made one more appearance during the qualification series, but the Border Bulldogs lost all six of their matches, failing to qualify for the 2014 Currie Cup Premier Division, instead qualifying to the 2014 Currie Cup First Division. He was named in their squad for the First Division campaign, where he made a further five appearances – starting just one of those, their final match of the season against the Boland Cavaliers. The Border Bulldogs ended the competition bottom of the log with a single win all season.

He returned to action in the 2015 Vodacom Cup, starting their opening match of the season against the Sharks XV.

