ON THE MOVE: Stormers should provide the platform for Mchunu to soar

Few who saw it will forget it. Although it might be worth a search on Google just to refresh memories. It was March 2021, South African rugby was trying to shake off the effects of Covid in the Rainbow Cup and there was a desperate need for something up-lifting. A 21-year-old Sharks prop provided it.

With the game against the Lions almost over, Ntuthuko Mchunu, on as a loosehead replacement, got the ball out wide. He was a big man, so you’d imagine he’d either try to set up the recycle or pass the ball to a teammate. Instead, he made like a wing, if an outsized one, and used his pace and power to speed past five defenders to score a spectacular try in the corner.

That was South Africa’s introduction to Mchunu, with SuperSport commentator Andy Capastagno putting it all in context - Mchunu was very new to prop then, and Andy had only a few years before that watched the Maritzburg College headboy of 2018 excelling for his school, as a No 8!

It was a story not entirely unique to Mchunu when it came to Sharks props. The legendary Tendai ‘Beast’ Mtwarira also started out his rugby life as a loose-forward, and he’d shown some reluctance when Dick Muir’s coaching team tried to reposition him the front row. Mtawarira told the Sharks coaches he had played some club games at prop, which they subsequently found out he hadn’t done, but he eventually settled there.

And the rest is history, as they say, with Mtawarira using the first test of the 2009 series against the British and Irish Lions as the statement performance announcing his arrival as a world-class player just a few years on from making the move from the back of the scrum to the front.

He was following the same path, so Mchunu might have appreciated the public support he received from the then two-years-retired Beast, who tweeted the Mchunu try in that Rainbow Cup game and described the youngster as “The real deal”.

IN MOST CHAMPIONS CUP TEAMS OF THE WEEK

We are four years going on five from that moment, and Mchunu has confirmed his promise by playing for the Springboks. That head coach Rassie Erasmus rates him was underlined by how every time he spoke about prop absentees this past international season, Mchunu was often the first name he mentioned.

When there were injuries on the November tour, it was Mchunu that Erasmus called up to bolster the ranks. At a time when the now 26-year-old Stormers player hadn’t played since May because of the injury that, up to that point, meant that he had yet to make his debut for his new team.

That came this past weekend, when he fronted the Stormers scrum in their impressive win over Bayonne in the first game of the 2025-26 edition of the Investec Champions Cup. Mchunu couldn’t have asked for a better first game for the Stormers, with most of the official and unofficial Champions Cup teams of the week on various websites featuring Mchunu.

It has almost become customary or seen as a given now that the Stormers scrum will be dominant - a scrumming culture has been developed at the Stormers that is not unlike the Boks. It almost doesn’t matter which player packs down in the front row, the Stormers somehow prevail at the set piece.

Vernon Matongo, who, like Mchunu, was schooled in KZN, in his case Northwood, has made massive waves since being elevated to franchise rugby after coming to the Cape to study at Stellenbosch. Stormers director of rugby John Dobson has spoken often of how Matongo has surprised him with how quickly he has developed. He’s ahead of schedule.

And then there’s also Oli Kebble, who returned to the Stormers after several years away, in which time he was capped for Scotland, and the underrated veteran Ali Vermaak. Start with any of those players in the front row and you are okay; dominance should usually be anticipated.

EXPLOSIVE RUNNER WITH THE BALL

Matongo is also a very mobile player with ball-carrying ability, but what marked Mchunu’s Stormers debut was what we remembered of his early days at the Sharks - he is an outstanding runner with ball in hand, clearly a legacy of his days as a loose-forward. Apart from bossing the scrums, Mchunu showed glimpses in making 44 metres in the game with ball in hand of how he can profit from his move to the Stormers, where his running ability will perfectly suit his strength.

“From my side, I know everyone has got their own trick in the pocket, the thing that makes them unique, and I really enjoy playing with the ball,” grinned Mchunu at his first online press conference as a Stormers player earlier this week.

“I do love running with the ball and the Stormers template suits me. But if you want to get into any South African team as a prop, you also have to have the set-piece ability on top of what you can do running with the ball.

“I do enjoy ball carrying and at the Stormers, I think we do have the players who can bring out the best in that, with forwards and backs who are very good at running with the ball. I really look forward to what is to come (at the Stormers), and hopefully, apart from doing well at the set piece, I will be imposing myself on attack too.”

SET TO BECOME A DHL STADIUM CROWD FAVOURITE

That ball-carrying ability is probably what prompts the Stormers forwards coach, Rito Hlungwani, to predict that Mchunu is going to quickly become a crowd favourite at the DHL Stadium.

“I can’t say anything negative about ‘Tuks’, " said Hlungwani. “Unfortunately, he was injured during the pre-season, but he immediately struck us as being definitely highly professional, attentive to review work. As you would have seen from him on the field, he is also very explosive.

“He is also a good human being, and that is important for our environment. We are very pleased to have him with us, and we are looking forward to him becoming a crowd favourite.”

Mchunu, like all new arrivals to the Stormers set-up, has been impressed with the combative nature of the live Tuesday scrum sessions that are starting to become part of Stormers legend. As Hlungwani has often said, and someone like Matongo has endorsed it, you have to gain from scrumming regularly against players like Neethling Fouche and, in Matongo’s case, when he first got called up to the Stormers, Frans Malherbe.

“Rito and Brok (Harris) have done well through the pre-season, and the one thing that is constant is that we are made to hold ourselves to our own standards,” said Mchunu.

“This week (against La Rochelle), we know we will again be held to our own standards, with last week’s performance as a benchmark. No matter how much you win, you must also be honest and be training with one eye on the next game we are playing, but also with one eye on the standards we set ourselves.

“We did well last week in Bayonne, but we must keep chasing that one per cent that we still need to get us holistically to where we want to be,” he added.

IN BOK PLANS

One of the places Mchunu would like to be is back in the Bok plans, and you don’t have to ask him if the fact that Ox Nche was playing ahead of him at the Sharks, and let’s face it, Nche is second to no one in world rugby in his position, was one of the motivators in him coming to the Cape. That much should be obvious.

But Nche’s absence from the playing field currently because of injury is a reminder that no one is infallible and there are always opportunities. While he didn’t get to play, Mchunu’s call-up to be part of the Bok squad towards the end of their tour was highly beneficial.

“Once you get a taste of that environment and the standards that are held there, you want to be back there. I was very grateful for the opportunity to be part of the Boks again, to be reminded of how they do things, the standards they keep. I really enjoyed that, and then enjoyed coming from there to here.

“I have only played one game for the Stormers, and my injury meant I couldn’t participate fully in the pre-season, but everyone was very welcoming when I came in. It was interesting to see the way we do things here. It was refreshing and that is why it was a bit frustrating for me to be sidelined. Although in some ways it might have given me more appreciation of what we have got here and made me more determined to plough back what I have taken from it.”

LA ROCHELLE WILL PROVIDE SCRUMMING CHALLENGE

There’s no clarity as yet on whether La Rochelle have come to South Africa fully loaded for Saturday’s Champions Cup clash with the Stormers in Gqeberha, but if they have it will provide Mchunu with a chance to further make a statement against a strong scrumming unit. Mchunu is preparing for a possible scrum battle with world-class tightheads Uini Atonio and Joel Sclavi.

Our team for the Investec Champions Cup match against Stade Rochelais in Gqeberha on Saturday.

📢 Team announcement https://t.co/AwQYvSaNMb
🎟️ https://t.co/3aJrMeqsuY#STOvSR #inittogether pic.twitter.com/MatmwzUH31 — DHL Stormers (@THESTORMERS) December 10, 2025

"La Rochelle are a quality outfit and they have a strong scrumming culture similar to ours. Both of their tightheads are international players,” said Mchunu.

"Any South African front row prides itself on the scrum, and this will be a big set-piece battle. I'm excited to test myself against some of Europe's best."

With this game being at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Mchunu will have to wait another week before being introduced to the Stormers’ more regular fans at the DHL Stadium. But Hlungwani is right - if Mchunu adds to his undoubted scrummaging ability a continuation of his penchant telegraphed in 2021 of being able to provide X-factor with ball in hand, he will become a firm Stormers crowd favourite.