Can Pumbaa pass the Castro test?
Martín Leandro Castrogiovanni is the ultimate test for any prop hoping to make his mark on the international stage.
Trevor Ntando Nyakane will undergo that examination when South Africa play Italy at Stadio Euganeo, Padua, on Saturday.
While the 25-year-old Nyakane, nicknamed Pumbaa after the popular broad and portly warthog of the Lions King saga, has the backing of Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer, he still has some other critics to win over.
The Argentine native, Castrogiovanni, eight years the senior of his Bok rival and with over 100 Test caps worth of experience, has destroyed more than just a few reputations – including those of a couple of Bok props.
Meyer, who made reference to the demolition job the equally jovial Azzurri veteran, nicknamed Castro, did on the Bok front row while playing for Leicester Tigers against South Africa's dirt-trackers on the 2009 year-end tour, said he is looking for "answers" in Saturday's test.
That is after naming a revamped front row to face the powerful Italian scrum – Nyakane starting his first Test for South Africa at loosehead prop, while Coenie Oosthuizen moves up from the bench to replace the injured Jannie du Plessis at tighthead.
"Beast [Tendai Mtawarira] has played a lot this year and he had cramps in the last game [against England]," the Bok coach told a media scrum in Padua.
"I don't want to lose him now [to an injury]. If Beast gets injured in the World Cup, then Trevor [Nyakane] needs to step in."
Meyer said Nyakane has been Trevor has been "brilliant" playing off the bench.
"He has improved tremendously as a player and is very fit," the Bok coach said of a player whom he axed from the Bok squad last year after he had a number of lapses of discipline and racked up three "breaches of team protocol" in a short space of time, including missing the team bus heading to the airport for a flight to their next match.
While all his cameos off the bench have been impressive, Meyer admitted Saturday will require him to take his game to an entirely new level.
"The test for him is to start, against one of the best scrummagers in the world [Castrogiovanni]," the coach said, adding: "Some years ago [2009], when Leicester [Tigers] played [and beat] the Boks, they totally out-scrummed the Boks.
"I know what they [Italy] can do [with Castrogiovanni] in the front row.
"However, I have to find some answers on this tour as well.
"Gurthrö [Steenkamp] will also get game time [off the bench] and the two of them must put up their hands now.
"Trevor has really improved lately and it is up to Trevor to prove that he can play there [Test level] and deserve more starts.
"Coenie [Oosthuizen] has always been great off the bench. I will say it again, he is young [25] and is [still] learning [o play] at tighthead.
"He had to move there because of his neck, otherwise he might not [continue to] play rugby. You don't want to end his career by playing him loosehead most of the time>
"I believe he can develop into a quality tighthead, but it is also a huge test for him. Against France last year, against a very powerful pack, he did very well.
"Julian [Redelinghuys] is a great scrummager, but he has to come off the bench and prove it at this level. This is not Currie Cup or Super Rugby .
"In the Northern Hemisphere most scrums end in free-kicks or penalties, as they [the teams] attack that all the times.
"The props are in for a tough day, but you have to see what they can do."
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