Former Lions and Springbok prop Brian Mujati is having an exceptional season in Europe with his English club Northampton Saints.

So much so that Peter Bills of the Independent newspaper feels he may be the type of Tighthead Prop that Bok coach de Villiers should be looking to take to New Zealand for Rugby World Cup 2011, but realises that in South Africa, talent alone decides very little at the end of the day.

Herewith the full article.

If ability alone were the deciding factor in the South African rugby squad for the Rugby World Cup this year, then a player most South Africans have forgotten would comfortably win a place.

Brian Mujati played for the Lions and Stormers before departing for the UK to join English Premiership club Northampton in 2009. He’d won 12 caps for the ‘Boks, admittedly ten of them as a substitute. He was seen as a decent prop, with the ability to handle the ball in broken play.

But Mujati is one of those players who needed to step out of his comfort zone. By leaving seductive Cape Town and going to England, he did just that. And the effect has been stunning.

Today, Mujati has become an integral part of the best front row in English rugby. Together with loose head prop Soane Tonga’uiha and England Test hooker Dylan Hartley, Mujati has formed a lethal combination of scrummaging power and high class technique.

In the recent Leicester v Northampton match, a meeting of first and second in the Premiership table, Mujati helped destroy a much heralded Leicester scrum on more than one occasion. His power scrummaging had the Leicester pack buckling, his strength forcing Leicester’s Argentine loose head Marcos Ayerza skywards.

Argentinian props are not used to such treatment but it didn’t come as a great surprise to Mujati’s boss, Northampton Director of Rugby Jim Mallinder.

Explaining the club’s decision to award Mujati an extended contract which will keep him at the club for at least another two years, Mallinder paid the South African a handsome compliment. “Brian has shown he has what it takes to compete at the top end of the Premiership.

“He has improved a lot as a player over the last year and his performances reflect the work he has put in off the field. But he is still a young man and we believe he has his best years in front of him.”

South Africa have not been as richly blessed for powerful tight heads in recent years as some might have expected. It is true Jannie du Plessis made a favourable impression last year and looks set for the World Cup. But the experiment of moving captain John Smit across from hooker to tight head prop, a move which was by no means a failure but not really a huge success, reflected the Springboks’ deficiencies in that department.

BJ Botha, now with Ulster, was seen as an efficient tight head, but hardly lethal. Indeed, the ‘Boks have not had one of those for quite some time.

But selecting Mujati as a member of the squad would enormously enhance the Springboks’ scrummaging power at this year’s World Cup. And as the ‘Boks showed against England at Twickenham last November, that area remains crucial even in a modern game where faster, more open play is hugely encouraged by the new law interpretations.

At 26, Mujati has made such progress that he looks technically equipped now to make much more of a success at Test level than he ever managed before. And as Jim Mallinder says, he will almost certainly get better.

But the 1.81m, 118kgs prop has already made some very eminent British scrummaging judges sit up and take notice. It’s a shame the Springboks will almost certainly ignore the evidence before their eyes.

I find that hard to understand. Sure, De Villiers has said he wants to pick only players who are playing their domestic rugby in South Africa. But that policy is already flawed: he has chosen Frans Steyn as full-back, even though the ex-Sharks man is at Racing Metro, the Paris club.

And under an ANC Government in South Africa which is constantly grumbling at the lack of true integration in South African Test rugby sides – i.e. the limited number of black players in the Springbok team – here is one who fully stands up to scrutiny as to whether he is good enough.

You would hope for Brian Mujati’s sake that his excellence and his considerable efforts since he arrived in the UK would be recognised by his own national selectors this year. But I’m sure he isn’t holding his breath in anticipation.

 

15 Responses to Brian Mujati making waves in Europe

  • 1

    Bok RWC role for Rassie

    Cape Town – Western Province senior professional coach and former Springbok, Rassie Erasmus, will be part of the Bok management team at the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand later this year.

    Outgoing WP Rugby chairperson Pat Kuhn confirmed to the Cape Times that Erasmus will assist the Boks in their World Cup title defence, but will return to his WP role in 2012.

    Springbok coach Peter de Villiers is set to confirm Erasmus’s appointment at his announcement of his 49-man provisional squad in Wellington on Wednesday.

    “Letting Rassie join the Bok management is something that was asked of us, so we are doing it for the country,’ said Kuhn, who is now part of SARU’s executive council.

  • 2

    So if the overseas media recognise that the selection policies for the SA National side are at best flawed, why can’t our media recognise it AND COME OUT AND SAY SO?

    Are they all just Jabroers afraid of losing the free pass to the after match cocktail party?

  • 3

    @ Scrumdown:
    I just saw on Morne’s site that Mujati will have the same problem as Beast with his citizenship. Wonder how they will get past it this time, at least Beast stayed permanently in SA. Mujati is over there most of his time.

  • 4

    3@ superBul:
    Easy, just play the race card.

  • 5

    3@ superBul:
    Poor downtrodden black Rugby player wasn’t afforded the same opportunities as his white counterparts by the stubborn Afrikaaner driven Rugby Authorities who refuse to accept transformation as a tool to improving the lot of the former disadvantaged aspiring youngsters so he had no choice but to uproot himself and sell himself into the slavery that is international sport much like the millions of his forefathers enslaved by the western world in previous millenia.

  • 6

    3@ superBul:
    You see, it’s very easy to play on the emotions of the government when trying to persuade them on issues such as this.

  • 7

    @ Scrumdown:
    But was it not the Government that pulled Beasts plug?

  • 8

    7@ superBul:
    Absolutely. But was it also not the government that pushed the application through quicker when the right people sat down for a cup of coffee?

    The argument I put forward above was one that I would encourage an individual to use, not SARU.

    Believe me, the race card when used correctly even works for white folks wanting to get into SA to work.

  • 9

    He was part of an excellent front row with teh Beast when he was still playing for the Lions and then [like most imports] faded away at WP.

  • 10

    I watched a few of The Saints games on tv. Mujati is a MUCH option than CJ who can’t even start on a regular basis for the Stormers.

  • 11

    10@ Loosehead:
    Watched him last night in a losing cause against Glouster.

    Must agree re Mujati v CJ, but then I’ve never rated CJ.

  • 12

    @ Scrumdown:
    And CJ will go to the WC because he has a contract.

  • 13

    Mujati may have played in a few games with Beast at international level, but he partnered with Heinke van der Merwe at the Lions, and we had a great front row at that time.

  • 14

    @ Lion4ever:
    Was that in the days of Loffie?
    Thinking of him wonder how he must feel about things in Joburg now?

  • 15

    @ Lion4ever:
    Right you are. It was not Beast.

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