Beauty of the Beast
16 Sep 2008
Tendai Mtawarira has the potential to become one of the great loosehead props.
Beast was the success story of the recent Tri-Nations and is the future of Springbok rugby as far as the No 1 jersey is concerned. In the new issue of SA Rugby magazine, on sale Wednesday, we speak to him about his storming season and he whether he can become the new Os du Randt. Bok forwards coach Gary Gold also explains in detail what makes Beast so special.
“He is the most improved player in South Africa over the last 12 months bar none,” Gold says. “He’s come on in leaps and bounds in all departments – his fitness and conditioning, his game sense and understanding of his role. But the most notable improvement has been his scrumming. I’ve never seen a player develop so quickly in this regard. It’s phenomenal.”
Also in issue 139 of SA Rugby magazine:
– Jake White speaks out: “I have never tried to undermine Peter de Villiers or the Boks this season”
– Two victories out of six in the Tri-Nations was just not good enough for the world champions. We compile a report card for Peter de Villiers’s stint at the helm of the Boks and explain what he’ll have to do to pass the next examination with distinction
– Keo on why doubts remain about the intellectual capital and emotional intelligence of the Springbok coaching team
– Joe van Niekerk may have left for Toulon, but he wants to
play for the Springboks again. He speaks about this and what he hopes to achieve in France over the next 10 months.
– After a six-year absence from the national set-up, Adi Jacobs returned to the Test fold, manning the midfield with maturity. He reflects on his season and hits back at those critics who say he’s too small and weak on defence.
– Could privatisation be the ingredient needed to invigorate a bland Absa Currie Cup? We look at how our domestic competition would benefit from a dramatic revamp
– Frans Steyn, Ruan Pienaar, JP Pietersen, Waylon Murray, Brad Barritt – what’s gone wrong with this golden generation of backline players for the Sharks? We ask head coach John Plumtree and backs coach Grant Bashford.
– Heinrich Brussow may be small in stature but he’s set to make a big impact at the business end of this year’s Absa Currie Cup
– Nick Koster is still only 19 but his impact on Western Province this season has been sensational
– Eddie Jones on the Boks’ problems, where Peter de Villiers is going wrong, their lack of fitness, how it can be turned around quickly and why he’d want to coach them if the opportunity arose
– Neither Western Province nor the Sharks want to move into new football stadiums after the 2010 Fifa World Cup, but they may soon change their minds
– A six-month injury lay-off gave Chiliboy Ralepelle the opportunity to breathe and assess his life goals and aspirations. It also strengthened his resolve never to be a political puppet. Now he’s braced for the challenge of dragging himself up the pecking order of talented hookers until he faces his mentor John Smit in the battle for the bok No 2 jersey
– At 33, and having been out of rugby for three seasons, there were plenty who thought Robbie Deans was mad to bring rugby league star Brad Thorn back to the Crusaders. But the big man has been one of the stars of this season
* To subscribe to SA Rugby magazine e-mail kara@hsm.co.za or phone (021) 416-0141
481 Comments
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16 Sep 2008, 15:08 pm
#143 Big Hit: No he is not serious, WP is rumoured to be buying all SAn registered players. A. He is a prop therefore WP wont be interested as they are happy with Broken Harris, and secondly I know Beast and he is happy at the Sharks.
16 Sep 2008, 15:08 pm
#128 SyKoPlaya:
Yeah Steyn did play well on Sat…
But I wouldnt go that far concerning JdV..DeVilliers is the best 12 in the world at present.
Steyn can do the impossible at times,granted.But can be ordinary…CONSISTENLY ORDINARY as we all kno..
I put him in the same bracket as
Pienaar
Spies
Freakishly talented but the incumbents in their position are still better.They must pay their dues.
Plus they might be young (in age) BUT they have had the neccessary exposure,if those soent produce consistently soon the likes of Francois Hougaard,Duane Vermuelen/Nick Koster,Burton Francis,Francois Bremmer are coming….AND FAST
No one is invaluable.I hope they know that as well as their fans
16 Sep 2008, 15:10 pm
#148 Ig:
what are you trying to say Ig?
how are things going?
16 Sep 2008, 15:13 pm
#151 Sharksgirl: its amazing how province supporters try starting rumours that players are going to the stormers
what they dont understand is rumours are just what they are rumours
facts are beast has already signed till 2010 , but has also on telly stated that while its in his hands he will never leave the sharks
16 Sep 2008, 15:14 pm
#151 Sharksgirl: cool and yeah it does seem that way. are WP the richest province?
16 Sep 2008, 15:14 pm
#152 mshiniwami: Good post, although I do rate Spies before WC and also lately. What is your take on the top 8′s at the moment?
16 Sep 2008, 15:16 pm
#148 Ig:
Howzit Ig! I assume you’re talking about the blue bulls fans above…shame man , they cant be blamed for the sins of their fathers.
16 Sep 2008, 15:17 pm
#142 wooden spoon: Adi Jacobs was offered R 1-million per year by WP but not guaranteed a starting place, The Sharks bettered the offer, so he will still be seen in the Sharks jersey…
16 Sep 2008, 15:17 pm
#152 mshiniwami:
He rarely plays badly at #12 – however, I’ve seen him have too many shockers at #10, #13, #15.
I would like to see him settle at #12. Sure JdV is good at #12 – but I would prefer a #12 with a good kicking game, and JdV simply doesn’t have this.
A good #12 with a good kicking game removes huge pressure from #10, and both players tend to play better (some mental thing I think). eg: Carter looks better with MacAllister than with Nonu, same with Gitz with Barnes, Joel with Hennie, Naas with MdP, ect.
16 Sep 2008, 15:17 pm
#155 Big Hit: no they are not although they try run aROUND BRAGGING THEY ARE
infact beggining last year there was press reports about stormers being in financial trouble
good example is last year its said sharks earned all in all 99 . something mil for the year
even having won the super 14 in 2nd highest earnings was bulls on 62. somthing mil
16 Sep 2008, 15:20 pm
#149 Richie_7:
doubt that…
Sharks are responsible for the development of the Beast as well as the transformation to the prop fwd he is today.He is also very haapy at the Sharks.
The sharks have never been a selling union,plus have the buying power to match any1.meanwhile WP is still trying to steady the boat.
Sharks sold the likes of:
Bobo
Watson
Tyibilika
Barritt
Smit(Who has since comebk)
BJ
Lensing(worst buy in Natal History along with Taione/Farani/Kokoali/C.Wanneburg)
When they have had backups in place plus never sold any1 at their peak of their powers like the Beast.Rumours of Jacobs/Waylon leaving have also dissipated amongst others.
Sharks
16 Sep 2008, 15:22 pm
#155 Big Hit: No actually last year it was said they were bankrupt, it was only after their improved performance in S14 that they started getting some money back into their coffers! I believe the two wealthier unions are the Sharks and Bulls.
#154 sharks_lover: Yeah and that is after dissing us and our team they want to purchase all our players
16 Sep 2008, 15:27 pm
#161 mshiniwami: the sharks have stopped all sales and secured their players till minimum end next year
they did this because of the sudden aussie interest
beast is busy planning a home for his family to move down from zim
and besides that he has signed for sharks till end 2010
16 Sep 2008, 15:29 pm
#158 Charlie: good stuff
16 Sep 2008, 15:29 pm
#162 Sharksgirl: lol true hun but it wont happen
read post 163
and good day to you hun hope all is well with you hubby and family
16 Sep 2008, 15:31 pm
#159 SyKoPlaya:
That might be true but JdV is the incumbent and the best international 12 at present.So kicking game or no kicking game,De Villiers has been SUPERB since the start of the S14 plus his leadership skills are an added advantage.
But I hear your 10/12 analogy-it works for the most part.
PS;But the best 12 ever rarely had to put boot to the ball because of class with BALL IN HAND….that would be TIM HORAN.
So it isnt a foreign concept
16 Sep 2008, 15:39 pm
#155 Big Hit: They will be the richest club in the world if they are forced to sell their stadium
16 Sep 2008, 15:41 pm
#167 BokEd: Well, second richest, Toulon have a bottomless pit
16 Sep 2008, 15:45 pm
#168 Big Hit: HAHA too true. They could buy a World XV on a yearly basis if they wanted to.
16 Sep 2008, 15:46 pm
#169 BokEd: they try to, but players are under contract a lot of the time e.g. Bakkies Botha
16 Sep 2008, 15:49 pm
#169 BokEd: you forget the sharks also now own absa park
16 Sep 2008, 15:50 pm
they have just finished paying off the last of the upgrade done a coule of years ago
16 Sep 2008, 16:02 pm
#30 Smellthis: SORRY I gave myself slap a good one!! hahahahaha. Had to rush and go out just typing quick. My mistake meant to say Heinke on my post 21 and not Os. Sorry all but Oz was the very best. Think Beast will eventually be a great 1 too.
16 Sep 2008, 16:05 pm
#34 K9_BaasPatrolliehond: I know sorry typed the wrong name meant to say Heinke. Only back now so only saw my mistake. Os was the greatest but Beast will get there.
16 Sep 2008, 17:14 pm
Beast is a joy to watch, a real crowd-thriller. He reminds me of the days when Mark ‘Bull’ Allen ruled the roost in Taranaki, to the extent that the ground was renamed the ‘Bullring’ in his honour. Every time Allen, the bald-headed prop, recived the ball, the crowd would sing out ‘BULLLLLLLLLLLLLLL’ in unison. Tremendous. He too was an average scrummager but a star in the loose.
Beast can only get better and lets also hope is the start of the end of Safas pointing their fingers at other teams for ‘poaching’ other countries players. He, like many other Bokke before him, has crossed borders to pull on the green’n'gold.
16 Sep 2008, 17:22 pm
#175 BlackPanther: Beast has been here a long time. Finished his schooling here. Its just like over the road here ZIM as the PI is so far from NZ its a big difference. The Zim’s who speak english well also speak with a South African accent. We hardly ever have to go over the border to look for players they come here as want to be Boks. Just damn pleased the Beast came. Goint to one of the very great no. 1
16 Sep 2008, 17:42 pm
I wish I could get SA rugby magazine… they don’t sell it here in texas, all I get twice a year is a rugby catalogue with a couple of articles about how crappy the eagles are…
16 Sep 2008, 18:02 pm
#176 Puma:
He’s Zimbabwean. Joe Rokocoko is ‘Fijian’ but ‘schooled in NZ’. Jonah Lomu was always ‘Tongan’ despite being born in Auckland. Jerry Collins, Tana Umaga, Rodney Soaiolo – all born in the Islands but reared in NZ. So if the cap fits, wear it, but dont try to make out your team is ‘cleaner’ than anyone elses. Montgomery, Krige, Chavanga, Mordt…..all Springboks too but noone else complains !
16 Sep 2008, 18:06 pm
#178 BlackPanther:
Yip, you’re quite right there.
I hate it when my fellow Saffas throw these poaching insults. But I see Big Hit has become quite silent on the issue after England started playing Vainikolo.
16 Sep 2008, 18:25 pm
#179 WP Till I Die: Big Hit will be very quiet this year if Riki Flutey dons the white of England. Flutey has represented NZ Maori, but never the ABs.
None of us in the NH have the moral high ground to judge NZ’s player selection policies, or to judge the Pacific Islanders for wanting a better standard of living by plying their trade in and for NZ. I mean, for goodness sake, Scotland has been the beneficiary over the modern era of foreign imports (Kiwis, South Africans and Ozzies).
But the world is changing. NZ is no longer where aspiring Polynesians see their future. They see it in Europe, where the money talks louder and their and their families futures can be secured far quicker. I will watch with amusement as England fills their positions with the sons of South Africans, Kiwis and players from far flung places, and watch their media and blinded supporters reap the barbs that they have so enjoyed sowing to others.
16 Sep 2008, 18:29 pm
#178 BlackPanther: We have always been mostly 100% and proudly south african in our rugby. Have had a few Zims playing but nothing, nothing like your lot in NZ. Just about half your rugby team is from the PI. I have been around for many, many years. One of the older bloggers here. I remember in the early 70′s your team was mostly just New Zealanders and never saw PI’s those days in your team. I guess you saw the huge talent in the PI’s that was not been used. I respect that. I think if PI’s cant play for their country then why not go and joing a great rugby nation like NZ even SA as they have one of the best rugga talent but not enough money in those countries for all the training equipment that you would get in NZ or SA. We too now have at WP a Fiji and think Rassie is getting another one for next years S14. Just think we have so many, many talent and depth here that we really don’t have to go and look in the PI for players. Yes bring them in from Zim as no way will Zim win anything in rugby if their rugby players don’t come here and live and eventually play for the Boks. They too grow up just dreaming to play for the Boks as Zim is right here on our border. Beast has said he had dreamed all his life to be a Bok. Well I am proud of him being a Bok he is so huge and talented just pleased he is in our team.
16 Sep 2008, 18:34 pm
#181 Puma: It’s called economic migrancy. You should look it up some time. Looks as if your views are quite old too.
Pray tell, what does your typical NZer look like?
16 Sep 2008, 18:35 pm
#177 miteemunkee: Percy and Mordt are born and bred South Africans. Corne was born in Zambia but a little known fact is that in Rhodesia and Zambia a child at birth did not automatically become a citizen of the country if his parents were not citizens at the time. Technically as his parents were South African, so was he until age 18 when he needed to apply for Zambian citizenship.
Chavanga is an import.
16 Sep 2008, 18:41 pm
#180 Puma: Hi Puma
Do you remember Brian Williams and Syd Going? Was that the 1970 ABs? I think Williams was Samoan, wasn’t he?
16 Sep 2008, 18:41 pm
#183 blhoo: The Dutch were immigrants of SA once, as were the English, Germans and French Hugenots. Over the centuries, they have become faces o whaht we now identify as being South African.
Give it 100 years and you won’t look at a Pacific Islander, or an Asian (SE Asia) and question whether they are a Kiwi either.
16 Sep 2008, 18:45 pm
#184 stodders: Are you suggesting that the Khoisan talent scouts phoned them up and asked them to come?
16 Sep 2008, 18:54 pm
#181 stodders:
And by the same token – what does your average British person look like nowadays?
I can assure you it’s a lot different from two hundred years ago
16 Sep 2008, 18:54 pm
#186 blhoo: No, they used pigeons
16 Sep 2008, 18:55 pm
#187 WP Till I Die: Well, if you watch BBC news and look at the presenters to give you an idea of the racial representation, you wouldn’t think there were very many white men left in Britain
16 Sep 2008, 18:56 pm
#187 stodders:
16 Sep 2008, 18:59 pm
Beast was shaped at the Sharks Academy.
If he stayed in Zim after school,where would he have been?
Besides he is proud of the Bok Jersey and wants to buy his family a home here.
Respect.
16 Sep 2008, 19:00 pm
#190 Fern:
if not mistaken,beast has a younger boet as well..
16 Sep 2008, 19:01 pm
#186 blhoo: Fact is, the world changes, and so do the stereotypical faces, races, religions of people in those countries.
The most powerful nation on Earth, USA, was founded solely on immigration, to the cost of the indigenous people. If it hadn’t happened, i’m sure the Sioux, Apache and Navajos would have been quite happy with their lot still.
16 Sep 2008, 19:01 pm
#192 Fern: Hands off him. Scotland are checking out his ancestry first
16 Sep 2008, 19:07 pm
#192 stodders:
Their are even some that suggest we are part alien and part human, so how far would one like to stretch the notion of being indigenous and for how long?
16 Sep 2008, 19:07 pm
#193 stodders:
Poses an interesting question, has Scotland ever had a black player in their history?
16 Sep 2008, 19:08 pm
#183 SA Barbarians: Hi there mate. Yes I think just maybe Brian Williams may have been Somoan. Remember Syd Going but he was a NZ I think. Those days we never had computers like now and our papers never wrote about where the person came from but most of the Ab’s those days were just from NZ.
16 Sep 2008, 19:09 pm
#195 WP Till I Die: Never. I can tell you that right now. Never.
16 Sep 2008, 19:09 pm
#193 stodders:
clutching at straws…
16 Sep 2008, 19:11 pm
#181 stodders: No Stodders my views are not old. I keep upto date. I am not that old but older than most of the bloggers here. They being a teenager in the 70′s does not make me too old I don’t think but on this blog maybe.
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