Mujati’s tight fit
4 Jun 2008
From Zimbabwean schoolboy to Bok prop – Brian Mujati must be pinching himself.
There’s no disputing that he was the form South African tighthead in the Super 14, although Mujati would disagree that he was so integral to his team. He points to the other seven blokes around him at the Stormers, not to mention the other seven behind the pack and the seven on the bench.
‘Sure, I have improved, but it’s a work in progress,’ he says. He doesn’t quite come out with the ‘aw, shucks’ routine, but he’s not
far off.
Though at 24 he is still very young for a tighthead, Mujati’s path to Stormers’ anchorman has been somewhat zigzag.
There was no stellar but steady rise from prominent South African rugby-playing school via Craven Week to age-group representation. Instead, there was the prominent Zimbabwe rugby-playing school (Peterhouse), Zim Craven Week … and then the lean times.
Mujati left Zimbabwe after matriculating in 2002, determined to make a career out of rugby.
‘It was during Craven Week that I realised I wasn’t too shabby as a player,’ he says. ‘I held my own against some powerful South Africans in the set phases even though as a team we were getting caned. I was lucky going to Peterhouse, though, as it has a long and traditional rugby-playing history. Coaching is still quite established there, so I had a good foundation. But after school …’ his voice trails off. ‘I can’t speak for others, but growing up in Zim you don’t think of playing there. I knew I had to come to SA.’
Mujati duly got to Johannesburg on a student visa and debuted for the Lions U21s. He played a few Vodacom Cup games, then a couple in the Currie Cup. Last year he graduated to the Super 14 side following a spate of injuries, and he played the entire season. He had been given a gap and he grabbed it. It should have been a dream year careerwise, but it ended in acrimony when he was accused of jumping ship during the Currie Cup. He disputes this, saying his student visa had expired, which made his contract null and void. The resentment from Ellis Park still simmers, however, and there was much talk at the beginning of the season of lawyers and courts.
His signing with the Stormers this year only increased the rumblings from Gauteng. ‘Look, I didn’t feel valued at the Lions,’ he says. ‘There wasn’t any major blowout – more like a series of little incidents. Nothing racial, if that’s what people are thinking. I just didn’t fit into their set-up, that’s all.’
He has very much fitted into the set-up in the Mother City. ‘I like Cape Town. I like the people and the lifestyle. I like the Stormers’ organisation and I like Rassie [Erasmus, the head coach]. I like the way he coaches. He’s very chilled.’
Tighthead is renowned as the most demanding position in rugby, but Mujati seems to have taken to it like a natural.
‘I’ve been lucky that I’ve only played prop my whole life,’ he says. ‘A lot of guys started out playing flank or hooker and then moved to prop, but for me it was only about tighthead. From the first I’ve loved the grunt and groan of the position. The scrumming, the mauling, the one-on-one with the opposition loosehead – that’s what gets me going. No-one sees that in the crowd, but I dig it.’
South African rugby digs it too.
By Patrick Farrell
This article first appeared in the June issue of SA Rugby magazine.
571 Comments
Pages: « 1 2 3 [4] 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 … 12 » Show All
4 Jun 2008, 12:52 pm
#137
4 Jun 2008, 12:53 pm
I was playing golf with George Clooney and Samuel L Jackson the other day and I said to them, and I quote: I’m sure you guys agree with me that there is nothing worse than a name-dropper.
They told me to piss off back to my fourball or they’d have me arrested and shot. Turned out to be hollow threats because the policeman wasn’t even armed.
4 Jun 2008, 12:54 pm
#149 pauld:
haha! too true!
he’s also probably the guy that attends the supporters club functions with three hunded other fans and then after that proclaims to “know the team on a personal basis”
4 Jun 2008, 12:55 pm
#136 sondebok:
4 Jun 2008, 12:56 pm
I thought of having a threesome with Helen Clark once, but then I found out she was a man………………. : )
4 Jun 2008, 12:57 pm
# 149 pauld
maybe he knows our names and where we work!
4 Jun 2008, 12:58 pm
#140 sharks_lover: Just realised that post was directed at me, get a life dip **** and while you’re at it learn to spell and sort your grammar out, it hurts my brain to read the drivel you type.
4 Jun 2008, 12:58 pm
#157 st.a.t.w: Indeed. I am just checking to see if there is a trapdoor under my chair ready to launch me into the shark tank !
4 Jun 2008, 13:00 pm
#158 Clanerk: Blame it on the Model C education system
4 Jun 2008, 13:01 pm
i once got drunk and told the govener(?) of massachusetts that he didnt know **** about africa. he was drunk too (i was guiding him) and he graciously agreed with me.
cant remember his name though.
4 Jun 2008, 13:01 pm
#161 rangerman: Mitt Romney ?
4 Jun 2008, 13:02 pm
#160 Classic rangerman…………… I also once saw George doubleya on TV
4 Jun 2008, 13:02 pm
#160 rangerman: Are you a Labrador?
4 Jun 2008, 13:04 pm
#163 katman: Class.
4 Jun 2008, 13:04 pm
#140 sharks_lover: wouldn’t that be great now! and with the Lions record iro keeping players I guess the Sharks have a good chance of landing him! I have also heard that Butch is coming back to Sharks for S14. I wonder how true that is!
4 Jun 2008, 13:04 pm
#163 katman: woof!
4 Jun 2008, 13:04 pm
#150 greatest13gerber:
Mujati has the perfect build for a tight head.
With good coaching he can develop into a great scrummager.
What people don’t understand about BJ is that he has to attack the loose head and hooker by getting between them and putting a lot of downward pressure on them.
This is old fashioned, destructive, technical scrumming and does not always look pretty, is close to the penalty line with the ref, but is effective in spoiling their ball and putting the pressure on their number 8 and scrummie.
When people see the opposition slightly on the back foot at the pick up at the back of the scrum, they do not realize what contribution a tight head like BJ has made.
4 Jun 2008, 13:04 pm
#163 katman: LMFAO very sharp!
4 Jun 2008, 13:05 pm
Sharks_lover to Jake White…
(in a thick durban accent) “Jake i cant decide on the ‘fush’ (fish) or the ‘puzza’ (pizza)… if i have the ‘fush’ my girlfriend wont ‘kuss’ (kiss) me later on, but the ‘puzza’ makes my tummy go funny and i spend too much time in the ‘tawlet’.
only kidding sharks_lover… i’m just a ‘pruck’
4 Jun 2008, 13:06 pm
looks to be a very good prospect, one wonder is the power last year was partly his and not heinke’s, but agree with tight head the form no 3 is BJ, the sharks were the only scrum that did not take a step backward the whole season when he was on the field. a strange selection as part of the run-on tight 5 imo.
4 Jun 2008, 13:06 pm
#162 whatever: i met george doubelya’s daughters bodyguards once.
they were unfriendly fukkers. too many guns.
4 Jun 2008, 13:06 pm
Tighthead, are you BJ?
4 Jun 2008, 13:08 pm
#173 whatever: His agent
4 Jun 2008, 13:08 pm
Wow things certainly turned nasty on this thread lol. Listen guys this is a blog for everyone to air their views..EVERYONE, including people that are seasoned tightheads AND people that have never stepped onto a rugby field in their life. I dont approve of some of the condescending nature some people seem to have. Name dropping doesn’t make 1 person more knowledgable than the other and believe it or not Jake White isn’t the be all and end all. Just because he rates a player doesn’t make it the holy grail of statements. There are people on this site that have been playing rugby all their life and some still playing…representative professional rugby. BJ is a good scrummager but that doesnt mean anyone who rates Mujati over him is a doos. Don’t just assume that you’re chatting to armchair coaches coz that’s not always the case. Personally I don’t rate BJ OVERALL without doubting his scrummaging. The “kid” Beast that you talk of is massively rated by Barney himself, a guy that’s scrummed right next to him and some of the best in the world, so please guys spare us the name-dropping..coz there’s a few people on this site than can name drop, and not just other peoples names.
4 Jun 2008, 13:11 pm
#174 Thank you sir. Can I please be excused to go to the toilet?
4 Jun 2008, 13:11 pm
#173 pauld: His faza…
4 Jun 2008, 13:11 pm
#174 flanka: ja, i agree. i am still playing rugby for the 4th team at my club! and even though i am on the wing and dont see the ball much (two passes, one backline move…..incredibly difficult at our level) i get to watch our scrum dominate week in and week out.
how they do it, i have no fukking idea! but its great to watch.
4 Jun 2008, 13:12 pm
Jeez flanka ………. you sound like my flippin mother…………
4 Jun 2008, 13:13 pm
#177 Clanerk: Yessshhhh. He is very toite , toite like a toiger or is that like a toitehead ?
4 Jun 2008, 13:13 pm
#153 Dazzler: Have you ever been to the Tank? ’cause then you would understand that after the games there is a tent outside gate 1 right next to the railway line, where they serve dinner to the players and coaches. And the Sharks players and coaches do sit there and chat on a one to one with their fans, I supose that is why we remain Sharks fans even through 12 lean years!
4 Jun 2008, 13:14 pm
Hehe, rangerman, I ref and I have no idea what ****** goes on either. Just make sure the penalties are equal ……….
4 Jun 2008, 13:16 pm
#172 whatever:
Yes.
Does it all make sense now?
4 Jun 2008, 13:16 pm
#181 GirlShark: Are those the Sharks fans that supported the team prior 1990 or post 1990 ? In the old B division days there was never a Natal fan to be found. In fact the Natal supporters union pre 1990 used to meet once a month in the phone booth outside Kings Park. Just like Chelsea fans, bloody Johnny come latelys
4 Jun 2008, 13:17 pm
#178 whatever: LOL didn’t mean it to sound that way, just unfair for some people to feel their opinions are kak coz they haven’t sipped tea with the queen, anyway whatever, no biggie.
4 Jun 2008, 13:17 pm
I once had lunch with Earl Rose…
4 Jun 2008, 13:18 pm
#181 whatever:
Front row forwards have known for years that refs haven’t got a clue what goes on in the scrum.
That is why they sometimes play to milk the penalty!!
4 Jun 2008, 13:19 pm
#17 tight head:
i agree
4 Jun 2008, 13:20 pm
#183 pauld: Are you getting confused with WP fans by any chance? Last year hardly any blogged suddenly this year there are plenty of them! But I cannot speak of before 1990 as I lived in JHB in those days so used to watch on TV.
4 Jun 2008, 13:20 pm
#177 rangerman: haha, thats funny boet…hey as long as that ball gets out somehow and gets flung to you thats all that counts…boys like tighthead truly know whats happening in the secret world of the scrum…i can imagine the kiwi Highlander boys would be discussing how their hardressers ripped them off
4 Jun 2008, 13:21 pm
#183 pauld: True statement, I remember the commentators sayin what a disgrace to see the stadiums so empty.
4 Jun 2008, 13:22 pm
#189 GirlShark: WP , oldest union. Nuff said and more CC’s than you will ever win. I lived in Durbs pre 1990 and your average Natal inhabitant either supported NTvl or WP
4 Jun 2008, 13:22 pm
#167 tight head:
“What people don’t understand about BJ is that he has to attack the loose head and hooker by getting between them and putting a lot of downward pressure on them.”
yes yes I wholeheartly agree. I think BJ IMo is very much a shorty version of french saffa Pieter De Villiers(very destructive for a lightweight). I myself will wait and see how Brian develops but his technique has being quite sound.
Woodcock will be the litmus test..he has alone screwed and popped all the opposition this season so far. He is indeed at th epeak of his powers..reminds me of Hein Rodgers when he was about 24 and at his peak of his scrummaging prowess.
4 Jun 2008, 13:22 pm
#189 flanka:
Hey Flanka mate, the world will come to an end when those props have weird hairstyles AND yellow boots!!
4 Jun 2008, 13:22 pm
#185 Dorff: lol, meaning Earl Rose would be namedropping YOU
4 Jun 2008, 13:23 pm
#191 AB: Only after they bought the free state team did the fans come back. Such short memories some people have. Then they go around saying they are a big club ? Just like Newcastle and Man City say they are big clubs , they are not !
4 Jun 2008, 13:25 pm
#193 tight head: I don’t know mate, looking at Ollie LeRoux and Donut Dunning it’s starting to happen!
4 Jun 2008, 13:25 pm
I once had the **** beat out of me by Frikkie Welsh…does that count?
4 Jun 2008, 13:26 pm
#152 katman:
You should put out a book.
No sh*t………………………..you are brilliant………..make the ****** brilliant.
4 Jun 2008, 13:26 pm
#181 whatever: hilarious
4 Jun 2008, 13:26 pm
#195 pauld: good point well made
Pages: « 1 2 3 [4] 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 … 12 » Show All
Have your say
You must be logged in to post a comment.