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Tendai Mtawarira's six word verdict on South Africa successor Ox Nche

Ox Nche of South Africa looks on during the Rugby World Cup France 2023 match between England and South Africa at Stade de France on October 21, 2023 in Paris, France. (Photo by Craig Mercer/MB Media/Getty Images)

Tendai ‘The Beast’ Mtawarira has called for Ox Nche to start in the World Cup final on Saturday against the All Blacks after his demoltion of the England scrum in the semi-final.

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South Africa’s semi-final win at the Stade de France had a very similar feel to the World Cup final from four years ago, although on this occasion it was a new loosehead prop that was winning the game for the Boks. It was Mtawarira that was causing havoc in Yokohama, while Nche dominated in Paris after coming on for the final 30 minutes of the match.

In light of his performance against England, ‘The Beast’ posted a six word message on X calling for Nche to start in the final. He wrote: “Ox is so destructive..start him.”

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The strength of South Africa’s replacement front row has been fundamental to their success over the past four years as their role is just as important as the starters. Whether Nche did enough to change the mind of head coach Jacques Nienaber and director of rugby Rassie Erasmus is uncertain, but he received high praise from his teammates after sealing their place in successive finals.

Captain Siya Kolisi said after the 16-15 victory that Nche’s performance, as well as that of replacement tighthead Vincent Koch, was “really special”.

“Ox and the guys behind him have been special,” the 2019 World Cup winning captain said. “We take pride in our scrums. It took a while. The guys who started ground as hard as they could. We tried to lay the foundation and sometimes it is difficult. England were never going to lie down and let us go over them. The guys who came on took it to another level, like they did last week. For Ox, Vincent and Bongi, it was really special.”

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2 Comments
P
Pierre 553 days ago

Kitshoff, Marx (unfortunately injured) and Malherbe played so many games off the bench. They have no issue with being a bomb squad. It will be interesting what the strategy is. The idea is to wear down opposition and then when the reserves come on you and really dominate the latter part of the match. Ox at the back has obviously worked a treat vs England.

T
Turlough 554 days ago

I think SA need to start well to stop NZ getting the lead they will need. That said the scrums you want to win are the ones later in the game. Having that certainty in the last 30 minutes is huge.

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Flankly 41 minutes ago
Irish provinces in danger of being left further behind, in their own country

Sometimes the explanations lie within, sometimes without. And we don’t always look the right way.


The story of top flight rugby is that what won yesterday is not what wins today. The standards are improving and the margins are narrowing.


I don’t think the Irish provinces have regressed in quality, so much as the bar has been raised, and it keeps getting higher. A team needs to be really good in every department and to play to their potential in order not to be beaten by a mid-table team. Nobody takes Benetton lightly anymore. The Scottish teams are serious contenders. We're two games from the end of the regular season and there are 14 teams vying for the 8 playoff slots. And if it weren’t for the implosion in Welsh rugby administration in recent years, you’d have to believe that things would be even more competitive.


Also, independent of general trends, SA rugby is going from strength to strength. The Ireland teams lost all of their games this last weekend, but the SA teams won all of their games. That’s not going to happen every time, but its consistent with the overall reality that SA has been succeeding at national level, is supplying dozens of top players (and some coaches) to non-SA clubs, and has a rising tide of nextgen players that are increasingly in evidence. There could easily be 3 SA teams in the URC playoffs, and while none of them would be favorites against Leinster in a final, any of them would be legit contenders.


There is work to do in the non-Dublin Irish teams, but I would characterise it as needing to get ahead and stay ahead of the league, rather than a loss of quality per se.

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