VIDEO: Why cake-eating Ox don't count calories
With his quota of chocolate caramel cake for the week safely tucked away, affable prop Retshegofaditswe (Ox) Nché facilely shares why he almost missed a second consecutive World Cup and why he prefers cake over salad.
Nché, 28, who made his Test debut in that peculiar encounter with Wales in Washington DC in June 2018, did not get another look-in till the first post-COVID international against Georgia at Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria, in July 2021.
Having missed the 2019 World Cup cut, Nché envisioned missing the 2023 version when a training session went horribly wrong.
The now 19-times capped Bok was named for the Rugby Championship season-opener against Australia in Pretoria in July.
However, he was forced to withdraw days before the match, after suffering a pectoral injury.
He said he was in a rush to finish his gym workout.
“I was in the gym and I was just in a rush,” Nché said, adding: “I tore it [the pectoral muscle] in the gym.
“I didn’t warm up properly. That’s what happened.”
Nché admitted that he had to work ‘twice as hard’ and diligently follow his rehabilitation regime.
The dedication saw him recover in time to be named in the World Cup squad and on Saturday – against Wales in Cardiff in a World Cup warm-up match – he will make his comeback, his Bok appearance since starting at loosehead against England at Twickenham in November last year.
“I’m excited to get a chance to play,” Nché said in a virtual media briefing from Cardiff, adding: “I want to make a good impression.
“I plan to take each game in my stride and just do my best.”
Nché admitted that he had visions of missing another World Cup.
“It crossed my mind a few times that I may not make the World Cup group.
“All the other players were getting game time and playing well.
“The team was building and progressing nicely.
“Yes, the thought did cross my mind, but I’m grateful to be here and I plan to give my best.”
Nché said that when you are on the rehabilitation list, after an injury, you have to work twice as hard as the other players.
(WATCH as affable Springbok Ox Nché reveals why he almost missed a second consecutive World Cup and why he prefers cake over salad…)
“They get game time and contact in training,” he added.
“As a player that was injured, you have to do more than what they are doing.
“You have to load your body more, you have to in a sense come back fitter than they are because you can be running fit, you can be stronger, but the rugby collisions and the load that your body goes under will never be the same no matter how hard you train.
“You probably have to train two times harder than what they are doing and do more sessions than they are doing.”
Despite his obvious excitement at returning to the Bok fray, Nché remains true to himself and has already had his quote of chocolate caramel cake for the week – his favourite ‘cheat’.
He famously posted on his social media channels that ‘salads don’t win scrums’ and told the media briefing that he stands by that.
“I don’t count calories, I count slices of cake,” he quipped.
Asked about his favourite ‘cheat’, he said: “I like chocolate caramel cake.”
And he is not concerned about what the Bok management might say about his diet.
“I’ve already had a slice during the week.
“I should be good to go.”
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