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'I am done with the Sharks' - 'Beast' Mtawarira considering overseas offers

Tendai Mtawarira

Tendai “Beast” Mtawarira has confirmed he is considering offers to continue his remarkable rugby career outside South Africa, but admits it would be difficult to uproot his family and leave Durban.

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The World Cup winning Springbok prop was in the Barbarians side beaten 33-31 by Fiji at Twickenham and will make his final appearance for the most famous club team in the world when they play Brazil in Sao Paolo on Wednesday when he will pack down again alongside Rory Best, the retiring former Ireland captain.

Mtawarira will then fly back to South Africa to discuss his playing options, although the chance to concentrate his efforts on his security business is high on his agenda.

Mtawarira, who dropped the ball over the line ruling out a crucial second-half score, said: “I am done with the Sharks and I am still looking at options at the moment and will make a decision quite soon. The fact is I am involved in a really good business back at home in security and I am one of the directors and it has always been my pathway after rugby. Now, I am weighing options; uprooting my family and coming overseas to play or getting involved in the company straight away in Durban.

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“After Brazil I am going to sit back and just reminisce on my career and what has happened. It was everything I wanted to achieve at a World Cup and I will have time with my family to reflect on the fact we are World champions. We did it.”

Mtawarira flew directly from the Springboks five-day bus tour of South Africa celebrating their win over England in the final in Japan to be coached by Eddie Jones, who used the Barbarians game to help ease the pain of that defeat in Yokohama.

Mtawarira,34, said: “It wasn’t too difficult to play after the bus tour because I love playing for the Baabaas, even though it was pretty hectic at home with all the World Cup celebrations. It was great to spend the week getting to know the guys like Rory Best and it was sad that we missed out on winning the game. It is still a great experience.

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“There was about five days going from city to city on the bus tour and we didn’t get much sleep celebrating and partying. We all had a great time and it was amazing to see the masses of people who came out to enjoy what we achieved in Japan was incredible and is something that will be remembered by all South Africans forever.

“We didn’t think it was going to be that big when we got home but from the moment we landed at the airport there were people everywhere wearing Springbok jerseys. There were lots of police and we got out of the airport safely and just enjoyed the moment.”

The more than 50,000 fans at Twickenham for Mtawarira’s final appearance at the stadium took up the now-famous chant of “beast” whenever he got the ball and the 117 cap Springbok appreciates the support he receives all over the world. “It is humbling and the chant has been a part of my whole career,” he added. “It gives me the Goosebumps and reminds me where I have come from. It is something I am going to miss and it is people showing me love.

“It started when I made my debut in 2007 for the Sharks and it was my mates in the club’s academy that started screaming beast and it spread like wildfire.”

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Training ramps up a gear as the team hits the gym to complete their final phase of strength work, while the leadership group provides critical analysis of the recent victory against Auckland Grammar.

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J
JW 3 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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