Published by the government of Zimbabwe
Robson Sharuko
3 July 2009
Harare — AS the 13th British and Irish Lions' tour of South Africa in 121 years draws to a close, with the final Test at Ellis Park in Johannesburg tomorrow, it's a remarkable tribute to the productivity of Zimbabwean rugby that the ailing game continues to bathe in the global spotlight.
World champions South Africa lead the three-Test series 2-0 - after close and brutal battles in Durban and Pretoria - but the name of little Zimbabwe has featured prominently in this blood-and-thunder showdown.
And, as the contest staggers towards the end, the world's media has started to give Zimbabwean rugby its due credit and, at the same time, begun to wonder where the country's rugby national team would have been had its best players decided to play for their motherland.
The dominant performance of prop Tendai Mtawarira, especially in the first Test in Durban, continues to hog the limelight, but the focus of the international media has turned beyond the big and powerful man that they affectionately call "The Beast".
It has evolved into a process to explore Zimbabwean rugby and the gems that the country has produced over the years who would probably have turned this nation into a world championship-winning side had they all not been poached by other nations.
Ironically, the global focus, and the tribute, comes at a time when Zimbabwean rugby is struggling with the national XV having lost its way in the tough jungles of international rugby.
While the Sevens team has done well, the national XV has been on a free-fall and is now barely recognisable as the side that charmed the world at the 1987 Rugby World Cup and introduced a brilliant centre called Richard Tsimba -- "The Black Diamond".
Now, despite its serious challenges that have turned it into an average side, Zimbabwe rugby's unique production line is once again being given its due credit.
"Tendai Mtawarira, known as "The Beast", was cheered the length and breadth of South Africa after his heroics in Durban," wrote Brendan Gallagher in The Daily Telegraph.
"However, his match-winning performance for the Springboks against the Lions was also celebrated long and hard in his native Zimbabwe, where rugby is struggling to maintain a tenuous hold in difficult times.
"Zimbabwe, who used to warrant a tour match against the Lions in their own right, has a proud and sometimes unacknowledged history of providing rugby internationals for other nations
"The Belt Bridge out of Zimbabwe is a well-trodden path, with the Springboks calling on the services of Ray Mordt, Gary Teichman, Adrian Garvey, Bobby Skinstad, Tonderai Chavhanga and Kennedy Tsimba, while another superb young prop, Brian Mujati -- who is heading for Northampton next season -- is tipped for future honours.
"Others have also spread their wings in recent years, with Scott Gray and Paul Johnstone playing for Scotland, Andy Marinos appearing for Wales, and David Pocock moving to Australia.
"Takudzwa Ngwenya famously migrated to the United States -- representing them in the 2007 World Cup, where he scored the try of the tournament by 'Smokin' Bryan Habana in their pool game against South Africa."
Gallagher wondered about the heights that the national team would have scaled had all these players not been poached by other nations.
"The Beast attended Churchill and Peterhouse schools in Zimbabwe, along with Mujati, and made an immediate impact in age-group rugby as a powerful flanker, playing for Zimbabwe at the IRB Under-19 World Cup.
"As a flanker, he signed professional terms with Natal Sharks, although two years ago coach Dick Muir suggested that he switch to prop."
The BBC said: "During the first Test in Durban, Mtawarira gave Vickery the most uncomfortable 45 minutes of his career."
The Times said "Mtawarira has probably ended Vickery's career."
"THREE years ago, The Beast was a free-running No.8 at the Sharks rugby academy with dreams of becoming a dashing loose forward with the Black-and-Whites," the paper wrote.
"Then Dick Muir woke him from the reverie with the news that he would never make it at the back of the scrum and that his future lay at the front.
"It was like being sent from the bridge to the boiler room to join the grease monkeys. There is little glamour in the front row of a scrum, where they practise the dark arts of rugby.
"But, rather than fall into a sulk, as many adolescents would be inclined to do, the well-behaved, Sunday school-going, God-fearing man that Tendai Mtawarira is, sought spiritual help from his church minister.
"It's now a well-worn story, but The Beast was advised to take Muir's advice and less than two years later he was in the Bok team, and had achieved the kind of cult status that, until then, had been reserved for soccer players like John 'Shoes' Moshoeu, Mark Fish and, lately, Matthew Booth, where the crowd chants your name in apparent choreographed unison."
The Daily Mail looked back at how Beastmania started.
"There are plenty of people for the Lions to curse through gritted teeth for South Africa taking a big, football-playing tearaway of a lad from Harare and mould him with a mixture of luck and judgment into the world's latest rugby sensation," wrote Chris Foy in the newspaper.
"First of all, there were those fellow pupils at Churchill Boys School in the Zimbabwe capital who decided that the resident bullyboy needed an appropriate nickname.
"So Tendai Mtawarira became The Beast, setting the wheels in motion for the creation of a swelling cult movement.
"Then there was the obvious impact made by his brother, Brian, and mother, Bertha. They managed to point the wild child in the right direction, with academic assistance on the one hand and religious guidance on the other.
"The Lions' scrum nemesis had been persuaded from a young age to use the oval-ball game to channel his power and energy, and he became a feared figure in the Churchill back row as a rampaging No.8.
"But he remained a raw talent until he talked his way into a place at the Peterhouse Boarding School in Marondera -- a prestigious institution with a fine sporting pedigree."
Zimbabwe has produced some quality rugby players in the past and it is a credit to the local game that the player who holds the record of the most appearances for the national team, former Australia captain George Gregan, can also trace his roots to this country.
Gregan was born in Zambia of a Zimbabwean mother and an Australian father and chose to play for his fatherland where he transformed himself into an iconic figure in the game.
His middle name, Musarurwa, clearly has a Zimbabwean tone.
During his great Wallaby career, he was part of an Australian team that won the World Cup and was captain when they lost the World Cup, on home soil, to England.
For now the focus is on Mtawarira and Beastmania.
But for those who will be gathered to watch the final Test at Ellis Park tomorrow, where the Lions and their travelling band of 30 000 fans will be hoping to avoid a whitewash, it will be difficult to ignore the Zimbabwean component of this gruelling encounter.
"What makes it easy is that I know it's all a blessing from the Lord," said Mtawarira.
"The fame can be a bit too much sometimes, but I remember how much work it took to get here, and how everything that happens now is a blessing."
He is engaged to Kuziva, a young woman his mother met at their church, and his old school master at Peterhouse continues to keep track of his former pupil who has become a superstar.
Paul Davies, his Peterhouse rugby coach, put his emerging superstar into context.
"These days he has to be careful when he goes out," warns Davies, who is still in touch with his former pupil.
"His first allegiance is to Jesus Christ, but he's become a pop star-type cult figure and he finds it hard to cope with that."
Zimbabwe Sables All-Star Rugby XV?
1. T. "The Beast" Mtawarira (Sharks, ex-Churchill and Peterhouse)
2. P. Hoffman (ex-Kadoma)
3. A. Garvey (Zimbabwe, Sharks and Springboks)/B. Mujati (Lions, ex Peterhouse)
4. B. Chivandire
5. M. Passaportis (ex-St John's, Western Province Under-19, Under-21 and Leicester Tigers)
6. D. Pockock (Midlands Christian College, Australia Under-18/19 and Western Force)
7. B. Skinstad (Western Province, SA Sevens, Sharks and Boks)
8. G. Teichmann (Sharks and Boks)
9. G. Gregan (Brumbies and Wallabies)
10. K. Tsimba (ex-Prince Edward, OH, Zimbabwe, Cheetahs)
11. R. Mordt (Zimbabwe, Transvaal and Boks)
12. G. Ziegler (ex-St John's, Western Force Academy)
13. D. Maidza (ex-St John's, Zimbabwe, Zim 7s and Border)
14. T. Chavanga (ex-Prince Edward, Cheetahs, Western Province and Boks)
15. V. Olonga (ex-Plumtree, Zimbabwe, Zim 7s)
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