DURBAN - South Africa won the first Test against the British and Irish Lions thanks in large part to a stunning display of scrummaging by loosehead prop Tendai Mtawarira.
Nicknamed the "Beast", the Zimbabwe-born forward stands 1.88m tall and weighs in at a hefty 118kg and whenever he features on the pitch, the faithful Bok supporters roar out his moniker.
Mtawarira let opposite number Phil Vickery feel the full force of his imposing frame from the first scrum in the Springboks' 26-21 win over the Lions.
Vickery was immediately penalised for popping up under the pressure of the Bok prop.
The England World Cup-winning prop then seemed to start boring in under his weight, conceding a hatful of penalties, three of which were successfully kicked for valuable points in an encounter made all the more tense by two late converted tries by the Lions.
Capped 10 times by South Africa, 23-year-old Mtawarira was hailed by captain John Smit, who had been moved from his customary hooking role to tighthead.
"He played a really big role today. He flew in his fiancée for the week so we'll have to keep her around a bit," he joked of his front-row teammate.
"He was up against a hardened tighthead in Phil Vickery, who's a seasoned campaigner. In the opening period, the accuracy he showed at scrum time helped us build pressure on the Lions."
Mtawarira, who had the pleasure of seeing Vickery replaced after a torrid 45 minutes, admitted: "Phil Vickery is a great scrummager but I worked hard on certain things and got it right today.
"There's a lot of work to do," he continued. "We've got a platform but next week will be much harder."
Smit agreed, saying: "All the talk was about the scrummage. We've had a lot of sessions against the Emerging Boks which was pretty tough.
"All the build-up made sure we did our homework.
"We'll have to keep on working because the Lions will come back twice as strong after that."
Lions captain Paul O'Connell said that New Zealand referee Bryce Lawrence had complained that Vickery had been "constantly going in".
"Phil's a very experienced prop. How he can be seen making that same mistake at four or five scrums is beyond me," he said.
Ian McGeechan, the Lions head coach, will be seeking some clarification on what is expected of tighthead props ahead of next week's game.
"Vickery feels a bit disappointed. He's an experienced prop who has played at the highest level. We have to be clear what's required of the tightheads," McGeechan said. -- AFP.
