Presidential 'pardon' for the Beast
REACTION: South Africa’s latest centurion was caught off guard by a call ahead of South Africa’s Test series win over England on Saturday.
Springboks loosehead Tendai Mtawarira, affectionately known as Beast, revealed how the President rang him.
Mtawarira told journalists after his side’s 23-12 win in the second Test at Bloemfontein that he initially challenged the telephone well-wisher – who turned out to be President Cyril Ramaphosa.
“The first thing I said was ‘Who’s speaking?’ ‘The president.’ ‘Oh!’,” he said to laughter.
“When I realised who it was I got very formal, very quickly.
“He thanked me for what I had done and for inspiring South Africans – I was just really surprised that he knew who I was.”
Coach Rassie Erasmus also paid tribute to him.
“It was of course a big day for this guy,” he said gesturing at Mtawarira.
“From where Beast ran on [and] people react like that, it does give you an edge. It’s a special day.”
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