Lions in SA
Os: Greatness awaits Beast
2009-06-23 09:10
Email | Print
Hendrik CronjéBloemfontein – Former Springbok loosehead legend, Os du Randt, has praised Tendai 'Beast' Mtawarira following the Sharks forward's devastating performance in the scrum on Saturday in the first Test against the British and Irish Lions.
"He definitely has everything it takes to become one of the great players in Bok history."
Du Randt said that until recently, Mtawarira's scrum capabilities were the only truly unknown factor in his impressive arsenal.
But this has been put to bed over the weekend after his powerful performance against Lions tighthead Phil Vickery.
"Now he just has to be consistent as this will eventually determine if he does become a great player," said Du Randt.
"I don't think we have yet seen the best of the Beast. He will only in a year's time mature as a front-ranker after he has learnt enough about his opponents, but he has impressed me since last year."
"There've been times when I didn't think he scrum that well, but there are few props who in their first year are able to dominate their opponents at Test level."
Du Randt said Vickery's tactic to "step inside" failed due to Mtawarira's brute scrumming power. "If you use this tactic and then come up against a strong scrummager like Beast or Andrew Sheridan, then you are going to have trouble. That is what happened to Vickery."
"The Boks clearly placed a lot of emphasis on their scrums. We (the Boks) are very proud of this facet of play (scrums) and regard them as a sign of strength. We were clearly eager to scrum well on Saturday."
Du Randt added to his praise of Mtawarira by branding the Sharks star as an excellent and efficient ball carrier.
Also, he was "not at all surprised" about the way in which Bok captain and tighthead, John Smit, stood up to the feared Welshman, Gethin Jenkins.
"I always knew John would survive and in this Test we saw how much his captaincy is worth. After Smit and Heinrich Brüssow (flank) left the field, things suddenly didn't go as smoothly," said Du Randt.