Tendai Mtawarira is arguably the greatest South African prop of all time. As well as being capped more than 100 times by the Springboks at test level, he also played more than 150 games for the Sharks in Super Rugby. Tendai Mtawarira was inducted into the RugbyPass Hall of Fame in 2021.
Tendai Mtawarira was born in Zimbabwe on 1 August 1985. However, he began his professional career in South Africa in 2006 when he began to represent the Sharks in the Currie Cup. Only a year later, he was signed to represent the Sharks in Super Rugby.
Between 2007 and 2019, Tendai Mtawarira was a mainstay of the Sharks side in Super Rugby and he made more than 150 appearances for the side. During this time, the team finished as the competition’s runners-up twice (2007 and 2012) and won the South African conference once (2014).
However, although he was a mainstay for the Sharks, Tendai Mtawarira is undoubtedly best known for his appearances for the Springboks, where he was known as ‘the beast’. Between 2008 and 2019, he was capped 117 times by South Africa in test matches, and also made a handful of appearances in uncapped games. Despite putting in a number of impressive performances over his career, the highlight of Tendai Mtawarira’s international career undoubtedly came in 2019, when he played an integral role in the final of the Rugby World Cup, which South Africa won.
After the Rugby World Cup win, Tendai Mtawarira spent a season playing in the USA before retiring from the game. Since, he’s started his own foundation, worked in the private sector and pursued educational opportunities.
Peter de Villiers hasn't taken kindly to criticism about him by Tendai Mtawarira in the South African player’s new autobiography, but the prop is claiming his words have been taken out of context.
Springboks prop Tendai ‘The Beast’ Mtawarira has apologised to his opposing loosehead Keita Inagaki after his first half yellow card on Sunday in Tokyo.
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