Two Kingswood College old boys are truly making their school proud, as well as making impressive sporting feats while they play for overseas rugby teams and clubs.
Two Kingswood College old boys are truly making their school proud, as well as making impressive sporting feats while they play for overseas rugby teams and clubs.
Brett Wilkinson, who matriculated from Kingswood in 2002, was selected to be in an Irish squad and David Denton, who finished school in 2008, played for Scotland in the recent Six Nations match against England. Kingswood's communications director, Debbie Smuts, also told italGrocott's Mail/ital that Denton was named man of the match.
Zimbabwe-born Denton won his first cap for Scotland as a second-half substitute in the EMC Test win against Ireland at Murrayfield in August 2011. Denton, who qualifies for Scotland through his mother, Joy, who was born in Glasgow, previously played rugby for Eastern Province in South Africa and the Scottish National Academy, and was selected for the U20 Six Nations squad and started in every match. He moved to Edinburgh University to study economics three years ago.
After signing for Edinburgh club rugby in 2010/11 Denton played the majority of the season in the premier side before making his Scotland A team début as a replacement in the 25-0 win over the USA Eagles. He was then selected for the 2010/11 Scotland Sevens squad which is where he helped them lift the 2010/11 Emirates Airline South Africa Sevens Bowl for his adopted country.
Kingswood's other up-and-coming international rugby star, who is a Grahamstown native and the son of Roger and Jenny Wilkinson, came to prominence when playing for the University of Cape Town.
Wilkinson was made a number of offers in South Africa after a successful season in 2005, but he chose to move to Ireland and play for the professional Irish rugby union team Connacht. Although born in South Africa, he is Irish qualified under residency.
Wilkinson was called to train with the Irish squad in 2009 and has been capped for the Ireland Wolfhounds, the second tier team for Ireland. He's been noted as an outstanding player for Connacht in recent seasons, and his innate ability to smash the gainline combined with explosive power and pace makes him a destructive force in the loose while being rock solid in the set piece.
