‘The Beast’ personifies Zimbabwe’s quality rugby exports to the Springboks over the years

IOL

The Zimbabwe visit to Gqeberha on Saturday was a reminder of the players from that part of the world who have graced the Springboks. Superb players such as Ray Mordt, Gary Teichmann, Bob Skinstad, and Tonderai Chavhanga.

They all have a story, but the one I love is that of Tendai “The Beast” Mtawarira, a true rags-to-riches tale.

When he won a gold medal at the 2019 Rugby World Cup triumph, he may well have looked back to the day his bus from Bulawayo pulled up in Durban, discharging him with no more than a backpack of essentials and a heart full of dreams.

In that backpack were shorts and T-shirts, and a pair of rugby boots. In his pocket was a R2000 cash gift from his dad. That was the total of the teenager’s worldly possessions as he contemplated the big, wide world on Boxing Day in 2005, Christmas having been spent on the bus trip from Zimbabwe.

Mtawirara was not quite destitute in Durbs in that he was taking up a bursary with the Sharks Academy. He had been talented spotted when his school, Peterhouse, had toured South Africa the previous year, but other than free tuition at Kings Park, he had to fend for himself.

He did so with inventive practicality. KFC’s Streetwise 2 (two pieces of chicken plus chips) became a staple meal. Or should that be meals, because the young man with a beastly appetite scoffed FIVE meals at a time. That amounts to ten pieces of chicken and ten chips… Streetwise indeed for a growing lad.

Then there was the unfortunate restaurant at Durban’s Suncoast Casino that advertised a meal special that would only pay out for freakishly fast eaters. On Tuesdays at Circus Circus, if you could eat a kilo of steak, 500 grams of chips and a soft drink in half an hour, you could have it for free. The first time The Beast rocked up, he did it in 12 minutes. He went back every week until they banned him.

At this time, he was using his burgeoning bulk to his financial advantage. He was a bouncer at various Durban nightclubs, including the famous One Stop, an institution at Kings Park that opened on match days for the Sharks.

At this point, it is a curious fact that Mtawarira could have disappeared into rugby obscurity had it not been for the shrewd intervention of Sharks coach Dick Muir. In fact, if it were not for the maverick Muir’s foresight regarding Mtawaria when he was an under-20 player, rugby would not have had this living legend.

Mtawarira had arrived in Durban as a loose forward, but Muir saw a burly figure that was too slow for flank and two short for lock. He told The Beast he had no future at the Sharks unless he switched to prop, where Muir saw a bright future.

Muir sent him to local club Rovers, where he was to play prop in their under-20 team, only for the teenager to tell his club coach that he refused to play in the front row. To be fair to him, has there ever been a loose forward who wants to convert to prop?

Word got back to Muir and he called Mtawarira to what would be a colourful meeting. Muir, who can be a tremendous showman, tore The Beast’s contract up before the stupefied teenager’s eyes, his dreams drifting in tatters to the floor.

He was told that if he didn’t follow instructions, he was a goner, but then came the sweetener — if he committed to playing loosehead prop, Muir would double his pay.

Perhaps seeing a mountain of Streetwise 2s before his eyes, The Beast signed on the dotted line and returned to club rugby to pay his dues as a prop. He could not have had a better tutor — the scrum consultant brought in by the Sharks was the ‘95 World Cup winning prop Balie Swart.

A year later, Muir gave Mtawarira a shot off the bench in the Sharks’ 2007 match against the Waratahs. At the end of that season, the Beast started in the Super Rugby final against the Bulls.

And two years after that, he exploded onto the national stage when he destroyed British and Irish Lions tighthead Phil Vickery at Kings Park to provide the impetus towards a famous Springbok win.

The Beast’s career as a Springbok needs little description; we know what sublime service he gave in the green and gold, but it is well worth noting that health issues nearly terminated his Bok career just as it was getting going.

He had not one, not two, but three heart operations to treat atrial fibrillation, which required an electric current to be coursed through his veins.

There was also the passport drama that almost led to Mtawarira being deported to Zimbabwe. Popular opinion is that the Home Affairs Minister arranged his citizenship, but it is reliably known that the green light intervention came from the very top. Yet one more gift to South Africa from Madiba was the 117-Test Springbok from Bulawayo.

This column is based on a chapter in Mike Greenaway’s best-selling book, The Fireside Springbok.