DURBAN - Southern Kings stars Yaw Penxe and Thembelani Bholi have joined the Sharks on short-term loans, with immediate effect.
Wing/fullback Penxe (23) and blindside flank/lock Bholi (30), joined the Sharks at training on Tuesday from the disbanded Port Elizabeth franchise and will provide quality depth in their positions.
Penxe, a lively runner, was one of the revelations of the recent Springbok Showdown in Cape Town. He has been one of the better Kings players in PRO14 for some now and it was no surprise that he featured in the Showdown where he was very unlucky not to score a try — he was obstructed by Damian Willemse from gathering a kick ahead from Sanele Nohamba.
A product of Queenstown in the Eastern Cape, Penxe played five times for the Baby Boks in 2017. Until now, he has chosen to remain in the Eastern Cape.
The Sharks will have had him on their shopping list because of the injuries to fullback Aphelele Fassi, Springbok wing Sbu Nkosi and former Lions wing Madosh Tambwe.
Bholi, a rugged blindside flank who is also at home in the second row, played over 50 games for the Kings before playing for the Bulls in 2018 and 2019. He returned to the Kings for the 2020 season. He also had a stint in 2017 for the Pumas.
Bholi is a like-for-like replacement for Tyler Paul, the flank/lock that the Sharks lost during lockdown to Japanese club rugby. Paul took advantage of the unusual opportunity provided to extricate himself from his contract with the Sharks.
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