Your brand. Your chosen player.

Player profile

Batho Hlekani

Lock / flanker

Born 5 April 2005 · 193cm · 115kg · Zwide, South Africa

Bathobele "Batho" Hlekani is an imposing, ultra-athletic lock/loose forward whose physical dominance and high work rate have marked him out as a future Test candidate. Born in Zwide—the iconic rugby town in the Eastern Cape—Hlekani attended Graeme College before making global headlines as a standout forward for the World Cup-winning Junior Springboks.Standing 1.93 m and weighing 115 kg, Hlekani made an immediate statement upon joining the 10bet Lions, capturing a Man of the Match award on his senior debut in early 2026. He possesses dynamic ball-carrying power, routinely driving through initial defenders and offloading in contact. Defensively, he executes bone-crunching hits and dominates the collision point.Capable of shifting seamlessly between lock and blindside flanker, Hlekani provides the 10bet Lions with elite physical leverage. His mix of size, open-field athleticism, and set-piece capability makes him a core cornerstone of the 10bet Lions' long-term forward strategy across the URC and European stages.