‘Beast’ on 100 is ‘good for another 30 to 50 tests’
His career will perhaps be defined for scrumming a redoubtable Lion off the park by the half-time whistle. But there is more to Tendai “Beast” Mtawarira’s career than muscle and bone colliding with force in a highlights reel.
He has required mental fortitude too in a career that has stood up to the test. He reached 100 test caps against England yesterday, which seemed a considerable stretch when considering the threat he has had to operate under.
It is now a less remembered fact that the sports ministry stridently questioned his eligibility to play for the Boks in 2009, with portfolio committee chairman Buthana Komphela even offering him one-way passage back to Zimbabwe. That stung the prop. In 2012 Mtawarira was confronted with a different beast. He developed heart palpitations in the lead-up to a test against Ireland in Dublin and was sent home.
A specially arranged South African passport took care of the first issue, while a catheter through his groin to his heart to burn out the electrolytes that caused the irregular heartbeat took care of the second. He hasn’t looked back, although there was a fair amount of mystery around his withdrawal from the Springbok squad last year for “family reasons”.
The taciturn Mtawarira has been spared media engagements this week. He did, however, do an interview with Koos Bekker’s TV pay channel.
In it he described the biggest intervention in his career when he was convinced that he should quit hanging off the side for a front row seat in the scrum.
The Beast bristled. “It was Dick Muir,” he said in the interview. “He called me into his office when I was still with the under-21s. He said ‘Beasty, I like the way you play but I don’t think I see you making it as a loose forward. If you could move to the front row and become a loosehead that change could be great for you. Who knows, you could become a Springbok’. In that very moment I didn’t believe him. I was angry and upset,” the 32year-old recalled.
“I saw a young man with incredible power and strength,” Muir, the former Sharks coach, said from Mauritius. “I convinced myself to tell him ‘if you want a career you can only make it as a prop forward’. He wasn’t quick enough as a loose forward and not tall enough to be lock,” Muir said.
“We did have some difficult chats. Once he took it all on board he committed. He’s a top man. His teammates like BJ Botha, Bismarck du Plessis, Deon Carstens and John Smit helped a lot. Balie Swart helped sort out his technique. Now he’s giving back to some of the younger players.”
Mtawarira has been remarkably consistent, not just in performance but temperament, as Sharks and Springbok teammate Thomas du Toit said.
“Tendai is always available to dispense advice. He’s the type of person that can lift you. He doesn’t talk a lot but he’ll show you. In the way he conducts himself you can find motivation,” said Du Toit.
Bok forwards coach Matt Proudfoot noted the prop’s commitment to his craft. “He’s a professional. He takes care of his body, he does his work. He does extras. He’s humble, he’s prepared to learn and ride the ups and downs. He takes it on the chin when he gets beaten. He understands that is the process. That’s what you want from sportsmen. To be confident in your abilities but humble enough to know that when you get beaten you need to respond.”
Muir believes Mtawarira is good for another 30 to 50 tests, which will take him well beyond the seven other prop centurions.