Warrick Venter

Warrick Venter

Personal information
Born	(1993-02-12) 12 February 1993 East London, South Africa
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Weight	103 kg (16 st 3 lb)
School(s) attended	Selborne College, East London
University	Varsity College, Durban
Club information
Playing position	Hooker
Current club	Eastern Province Kings
Youth career
2012–14	Sharks
2014	Eastern Province Kings
Amateur team(s)
Years	Team
2014	College Rovers	7	(15)
2015–	NMMU Madibaz	9	(5)
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Pts)†
2016–	Eastern Province Kings	0	(0)
* Senior club appearances and points correct as of 6 April 2016. † Appearances (Points).

Warrick Venter (born (1993-02-12)12 February 1993 in East London, South Africa) is a South African rugby union player, currently playing with the Eastern Province Kings. His regular position is hooker.

Rugby career

2012–14: Sharks academy and College Rovers

After high school, Venter joined the academy of Durban-based provincial union the Sharks. He was included in the Sharks U19 squad for the 2012 Under-19 Provincial Championship and was named in their matchday squad for all thirteen of their matches in the competition, although he only started in two of those matches. His side finished in third position on the log to qualify for the semi-finals and he was an unused replacement as Blue Bulls U19 ran out 46–35 winners.

At the start of 2014, Venter represented College Rovers in the 2014 SARU Community Cup competition. He made two starts and two appearances as a replacement in their matches in Pool B during the group stages, helping them to four consecutive victories and scoring tries in their matches against Welkom and Bloemfontein Crusaders. He started all three of their matches during the finals tournament held in George over the Easter weekend. College Rovers won their quarter final match against Old Selbornians 36–13, before losing to Rustenburg Impala in the semi-finals. That meant they played in the Plate Final (effectively the third-place play-off), where Venter scored his third try of the competition against Hamiltons, but it wasn't enough, as the team from Cape Town won 27–18 to condemn College Rovers to fourth spot in the competition.

In August 2014, Venter made a single appearance for Sharks U21 in Group A of the 2014 Under-21 Provincial Championship, coming on as a replacement in their match against Golden Lions U19 in Pietermaritzburg.

2014–: Eastern Province Under-21 and NMMU Madibaz

He made further appearances in the 2014 Under-21 Provincial Championship, albeit in Group B, as he moved to Port Elizabeth to join the Eastern Province Kings. He made one start and two appearances as a replacement in Eastern Province U21's three matches during the regular season, which saw them record seven consecutive victories to finish top of the log. He missed out on the semi-final, but did play off the bench in the final, as his side beat SWD U21 46–3 to secure the Group B title. He started in their next match – a promotion play-off match against Border U21 for the right to play in Group A in 2015 – as they won the match 64–9 to secure their promotion to the top tier.

In 2015, Venter joined the NMMU Madibaz for their 2015 Varsity Cup campaign. He made five appearances as NMMU finished the second in seventh (and second-last) position on the log. Venter scored one try in the competition in a 13–40 defeat to the UCT Ikey Tigers in Cape Town. He returned for NMMU's 2016 season and started four of their matches; his side emulated their 2015 form and once again finished in seventh position.

Following serious financial problems at the Eastern Province Kings at the end of the 2015 season which saw a number of first team regular leave the union, a number of younger players were promoted to the squad that competed in the 2016 Currie Cup qualification series. Venter was among the players named in the squad and he was named in the starting lineup for their first match of the season against the SWD Eagles, playing the first 54 minutes of a 14–37 defeat.