Kayle van Zyl

Kayle Deon van Zyl is a South African rugby union player, currently playing with Italian side Rugby Calvisano, competing in the Top10 and European Rugby Continental Shield.

He has the ability to play in any position in the back-line but has thus far mostly featured as a fullback.

(1601 minutes in the Guinness Pro12, scoring five tries) and (224 minutes in the European Rugby Challenge Cup/Rabodirect, scoring one try).

He played in total 1825 minutes for the season.

In the final against the, he again scored a late try in the 81st minute of the match.

Van Zyl represented Eastern Province at the Under-13 in 2003 and 2009 in the Coca-Cola Under-18 Craven Week in East London alongside Springbok Captain Siya Kolisi, scoring his first try on day one against Western Province.

He was awarded a rugby scholarship in 2009-2010 season for Hartpury College in Gloucestershire, before returning to join the Rugby Performance Centre in the Cape.

Van Zyl joined the Eastern Province Kings Academy, where he played for the side in the 2010 Under-19 Provincial Championship.

He was a key player for the side in the 2012 Under-21 Provincial Championship, scoring 71 points in eight appearances.

Van Zyl was under the Top SARU Performers, scoring the most tries at 6 in the 2012 Provincial Under 21 in the Rugby Junior Provincials.

This included a record and a remarkable personal haul in their opening match, when he scored 36 of his team's points in a 61–3 victory over, consisting of four tries and eight conversions and was awarded Man of the Match.

Van Zyl is the second top try scorer for Zebre in Guinness Pro12 15/16 season scoring six tries.

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Van Zyl scored his first Pro14 try against Cardiff Blues, where Zebre claimed a 26–15 bonus point victory.

He scored two tries in Round Nine against Ospreys,.

Van Zyl was included in ' senior squad for the 2013 Vodacom Cup, making his debut in a 17–13 victory in their Round Four match against.

He scored his first senior points against contributing seven points with the boot in a match that the Kings won 27–23.

In their match against the, he scored 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 played in the quarter-final, kicking a conversion, and with a remarkable fight-back saw his side win 34–31 against the Vodacom Blue Bulls despite being 13–31 down with eight minutes left to play.

Starting as Fullback in their semi-final match,he sustained a broken jaw early in the game while fielding a high ball which ended in a 13–39 loss to the in Nelspruit,.

Van Zyl played in the 2013 Currie Cup First Division making nine appearances, making his Currie Cup debut in their match against the in George, kicking a conversion in the second-last minute to clinch a 35–34 victory for the Kings.

Starting for Kings in their match against the in the penultimate round of the competition.

the beat Falcons 30-23.

In their semi-final match against the with the scores level at 22-all, an additional twenty minutes were played and Van Zyl scored a try six minutes later to help his team to a 32–29 victory to progress to the final.

In 2014, Van Zyl played Varsity Cup rugby with the, and had to return to the Eastern Province Kings squad for the 2014 Vodacom Cup, kicking five points in their final Southern Section match against the previously-unbeaten to help the Kings to a 27–11 victory,

In August 2014, Van Zyl moved to Italy to join National Championship of Excellence side Mogliano Rugby on a two-year contract.

The first friendly match was against Petrarca in September, 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.

Van Zyl was the joint-top try scorer with teammate Marco Filippucci in the 2014–2015 National Championship of Excellence, scoring eleven tries.

He played 1310 minutes in the Super 10, 2014-2015 season.

Van Zyl featured in the Pro14 and the European Rugby Challenge Cup competitions.

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.

He made his Pro14 debut in the 2015–16 season, contracted to Parma-based Zebre for two years.

Van Zyl played 25 matches during the 2015–16 season, scoring six tries.

He scored his first try in the European Rugby Challenge Cup in their 2015–16 European Rugby Challenge Cup match against Worcester Warriorsin a 22–15 victory for Zebre.

He scored his fourth try against Glasgow Warriors in the 20th minute of their Round 21 match in Scotland.

He scored his fifth try 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 which he suffered a debilitating hamstring injury in the final match of the season.

Pro12 2016–17 season Van Zyl fought his way back to fitness, playing 9 games, 466 minutes, starting 6 and scoring 2 tries for the season, making an immediate impact with his decisive running and excellent fielding under the high ball, scoring a try for Zebre against Benetton Rugby.