Dangermen of the World Cup: Beast Mtawarira

Tendai Beast Mtawarira: One of the most formidable props in world rugby today, Tendai “The Beast” Mtawarira is an incredible asset in any scrum situation. His scrumming technique is near flawless which, along with his incredible strength, makes him one of the strongest scrummagers in the world.

Cries of “Beast” can be heard every time he receives the ball illustrating the fact that he is definitely one of South Africa’s crowd favorites, and for good reason. His low center of gravity in conjunction with his size and strength makes him an excellent carrier of the ball and almost always gains a few metres with ball-in-hand.

Mtawarira was selected as part of the Springbok squad and made his debut playing against Wales in a test match on 14 June 2008. The following week, on 21 June 2008, he scored a try against Italy as well as winning the ‘Man of the Match’ award.

Born in Zimbabwe in 1985, Mtawarira has had his fair share of citizenship struggles. Although Mtawarira was fully eligible to play for South Africa under IRB rules, his Zimbabwean nationality was a sticking point in 2009 and 2010. The Beast had this to say after being threatened with deportation in 2010:

“I am a South African at heart. I love this country. It has become my home. It is everything to me. Wearing the green and gold of the Springboks is a huge honour for me. That jersey is part of me. The green and gold flows in my blood. I feel just as much pride as any other guy in the team.”

With such pride and determination, The Beast will be a difficult man to stop come this year’s World Cup competition. Having already competed in one World Cup competition, Mtawarira will have a second bite at the cherry and we’re sure that he means to make this one count.