Saturday's 52-24 defeat to the Stormers at Newlands ended a dismal Super Rugby season for the Southern Kings, which featured only two wins from 15 games.
Saturday's 52-24 defeat to the Stormers at Newlands ended a dismal Super Rugby season for the Southern Kings, which featured only two wins from 15 games.
Although Graeme College have fared better than the Kings in 2016 – they, too, would have hoped for more.
However, if there has been occasional cause for joy among both Kings and Graeme rugby fans, much of it has come from winger Luzuko Vulindlu – a former Graeme pupil who has scored two tries in his debut season for the Port Elizabeth side.
The first of those came against the Crusaders – the most succsessful side in Super Rugby history, with seven titles. Predictably, this left Vulindlu overjoyed.
"The Crusaders are a very good team – if not the best to ever play Super Rugby, so scoring against them on their home turf [in Christchurch] was very special. I felt really good about it," he said.
Although Vulindlu also scored a try against the Lions, who topped the South African conference, he has not had an easy season by any means.
The loan signing of Wandile Mjekevu from the Sharks pushed Vulindlu out of the starting lineup – and in the latter stages of the competition, his playing time decreased significantly.
However, Vulindlu is used to navigating his career the hard way. In late 2004, aged 16, he left Graeme and moved to the other side of the country – finishing the school year at Stanger High School in KwaZulu Natal.
In the second term of the following year, he moved again – this time to Durban High School. Having left his town of birth and moved schools twice in a matter of months, Vulindlu could have been forgiven for growing disillusioned. However, it was in Durban that the versatile star found his niche.
After having represented the Sharks at Craven Week, he made his first class breakthrough in 2008 for their Vodacom Cup side, the Natal Wildebeest.
2009 proved to be Vulindlu's most productive year, as he not only became a regular face in the Sharks' Currie Cup and Super Rugby sides, but also played against the British & Irish Lions for both his franchise and the Emerging Springboks.
Vulindlu once again faced hardship when he fell down the Sharks pecking order, before eventually leaving in 2011. Although he moved onto spells at French side Auch Gers and the Griquas, one could have been forgiven for thinking his Super Rugby career was over.
True to form, Vulindlu found a way back to the top. After joining SWD Eagles in 2013 and producing a string of impressive performances, he earned a trial period at the Southern Kings ahead of the 2016 Super Rugby season.
The trial was successful and Vulindlu came back to his home province, where he has since toiled to make his mark once more.
Vulindlu revealed that he still holds fond memories of his first stint in Eastern Cape rugby and his old school, stating: "Graeme College played a big part [in my career]. That's where I learned the basic skills and fundamentals of the game from a tender age of 10."
Nico van der Meulen, Graeme's master in charge of sport, remembers Vulindlu as a strong runner with a knack for breaking opposition defence lines. However, the first thing that came to mind when asked what he remembered about his former player was entirely different.
"He always had a smile on the rugby field and gave his best," said van der Meulen, who coached Vulindlu in Graeme's first XV. "He still has it."
Whatever comes next in Vulindlu's turbulent career, Graemians will be able to continue looking out for that smile and hold fond memories of the days when it graced their turf.
