Bok No 1 jersey: Ox hoping to live up to standard set by Beast

Springbok front ranker Ox Nche is honoured to have picked up the baton from former loosehead prop Beast Mtawarira and will be looking to add to the legacy of the Bok number one jersey when the team face Scotland at Murrayfield on Saturday.

Mtawarira retired after the 2019 World Cup and although the number one jersey has been shared between Nche and Steven Kitshoff, the former has recently been settling in and making it his own.

“It is a massive honour for me because you look at a guy like Beast, who was wearing the jersey before me, he made sure that whoever comes afterwards has very big shoes to fill,” explained Nche.

“For me it’s also a massive challenge because I now have to make sure I leave the jersey in a better place. So on my journey I have to take every opportunity I get to play to leave the jersey in a much better place.

“So it is very important to me to use every single opportunity I get to make the best out of it.”

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In the coming match against Scotland the Bok forward pack is set to come up against some of their fellow former countrymen, with props Pierre Schoeman and Oli Kebble in the Scotland squad, however Nche admits that it doesn’t really add any extra spice to the occasion.

“I wouldn’t say it gives us extra motivation but we definitely have a goal that we want to achieve on the weekend against their pack,” said Nche.

“It isn’t against one individual, rather the entire pack. We as South Africans have pride in our physicality, we have eight South Africans in our pack and we are against eight Scottish guys.

“We don’t see it as seven Scottish guys and Pierre. We just see it as eight Scottish guys and eight South Africans, so we just want to exert what we have and our plan on to them.”

The Springboks’ match against Scotland will kick off at 3pm on Saturday afternoon.