For future opponents of Ntuthuko Mchunu, the words of DHL Stormers coach Rito Hlungwani in the wake of yet another man-of-the-match performance from the powerfully built loosehead prop should have been taken as both ominous and chilling.
“Tuks has been very impressive since he joined us. He said when he arrived that all he wanted was to be better, to improve as a player, and I think he has done that,” said Hlungwani.
“He is getting better game by game and working really hard. He is always asking to do extra work. But unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, there is still a lot more there (that will be improved).”
It’s unfortunate for future opponents but fortunate for Stormers fans, who have warmed to a player who is so mobile and explosive for a big man and carries the ball so well and yet is also excelling in his primary role in the set scrums. In addition to scoring a first-half try in the 44-21 mauling of Cardiff in last weekend’s Vodacom URC quarterfinal, something that is almost becoming expected now in Stormers home games, Mchunu was particularly destructive in the set pieces.
Mchunu was at the heart of the many scrum penalties forced by the Stormers and subjected the Welsh international tighthead Keiron Assiratti to a torrid afternoon.
Assiratti was yellow-carded after 32 minutes for repeatedly infringing in the face of the Mchunu onslaught, and then, eight minutes after returning to the field, his game was cut short as, after another series of scrums where Mchunu and his teammates wreaked havoc, he was forced off injured by Vernon Matongo.
Assiratti’s replacement was also later forced to take a 10-minute break, but Mchunu would have played a role in starting the sequence of errors that led the referee to reach into his pocket.
His official man-of-the-match award was his second in a row in games at DHL Stadium, and it was noticeable before the game that the noise level went up a few notches when the stadium announcer read out the names on the Stormers team list, and he introduced Mchunu. He’s fast becoming one of the Stormers’ most popular players.
The 27-year-old product of Maritzburg College, where he specialised as a No 8, made a belated start to his first season with the Stormers after moving down from KZN due to injury, but as he has picked up momentum, he has more than made up for the delay with his contributions to his new team.
It was mainly due to injury - he was out for the entire South African off-season when most of the international games are played - that he missed out on contributing to the Springboks last season, but he must be on track to add considerably to his three caps, the first of which came against Wales in Bloemfontein in 2022, with his last appearance being against Portugal, also in Bloemfontein, in 2024.
Mchunu is still relatively young for a prop, so he could well still go on to become a legendary figure in SA rugby and in so doing follow in the footsteps of Tendai ‘Beast’ Mtawarira, who many have likened him to mainly because he too was retreaded to the front row from loose-forward, a move that was suggested for him by former Sharks coach Sean Everitt.