Eital Bredenkamp

He played for and captained his high school, Pretoria-based Afrikaanse Hoër Seunskool at schoolboy level.[2] Despite not being selected by the Blue Bulls for any youth tournaments such as the prestigious Under-18 Craven Week tournament, his performances were noted by Western Province and he joined the Cape Town outfit for the 2012 season.

He started twelve matches for the Western Province U19 side during the 2012 Under-19 Provincial Championship, scoring seven tries[3] – which included a hat-trick in their 39–8 victory over Leopards U19 in Cape Town[4] – to help his side to the play-offs of the competition. Another of his tries came in the semi-final match against the Golden Lions U19, helping Western Province to a 24–14 victory[5] to reach the final against the Blue Bulls in Durban. Bredenkamp started that match to help his side to win the title by running out 22–18 winners.[6]

In 2013, he became involved in the Western Province U21 set-up and appeared on ten occasions during the 2013 Under-21 Provincial Championship. He mainly played off the bench – making just two starts – but still contributed to the cause by scoring five tries for his side. This included two tries scored in their semi-final match against the Golden Lions U21; he scored a second-half try as the match finished 34–34 after the regulation 80 minutes and he scored a second try in the 90th minute which proved instrumental to helping his side to a 44–41 victory.[7] He played in the final as Western Province beat the Blue Bulls U21 30–23.[8]

He played for the Under-21 side once more during the 2014 Under-21 Provincial Championship, also being named captain for the campaign.[9] He finished as the top try scorer in Group A of the competition, scoring thirteen tries in twelve appearances.[10] This included hat-tricks in their matches against Free State U21 in their opening match of the season[11] and against Border U21 in a 90–0 demolition.[12] He led Western Province U21 to the final of the competition, but failed to win his second youth championship in three years as they lost 10–20 to the Blue Bulls U21.[13][14]

He made his first class debut for Western Province during the 2014 Vodacom Cup. Despite playing as a flanker for the majority of his rugby career, he was named as the replacement hooker for their opening match of the season against Boland Cavaliers and came off the bench shortly after half-time to make his debut in a 16–8 victory.[15] He made his first start the following week against the Sharks XV (again as a hooker) as Western Province lost 25–7 to their Durban rivals[16] and made a further four substitute appearances as Western Province reached the quarter-finals of the competition, only to be eliminated by the Pumas in Nelspruit.[17]

He was one of three players (along with Tazz Fuzani and Jan Uys) that moved from the Western Cape to the Eastern Cape to join Port Elizabeth-based side Eastern Province Kings for the 2015 season.[18] He made his debut for the EP Kings by starting their first match of the 2015 Vodacom Cup season, a 19–27 defeat to defending champions Griquas.[19]