They were wearing sackcloth in Durban rugby circles last Sunday following their team’s failure to get the result they needed to ensure Heineken Champions Cup rugby next year, but it was not because of anything done by Ox Nche.
On the contrary, the strongly built loosehead prop did everything he could in his quest to ensure his team beat Munster in their final Vodacom United Rugby Championship regular season game.
Indeed, one of the commentators summed it up perfectly when he said that it isn’t often that a team can be dominant at scrum time as the Sharks were against Munster, with the Bok No 1, who alternates that jersey with the DHL Stormers’ Steven Kitshoff, who was equally as impressive for his team this past weekend, influential in the ascendancy enjoyed in the set-piece.
But like Kitshoff, Nche offers so much more than just his scrumming power. With his low centre of gravity, he is a difficult man to bring down when he has the ball in hand and is carrying, and he appears to be tireless.
The Sharks’ forwards are not always renowned for their work-rate, and that is perhaps one of the reasons they haven’t achieved the results the names on the team list sometimes suggest they should.
Nche is a consistent exception, however, and against Munster he was also prominent at the breakdowns, where he managed to secure two crucial turnovers.
Their inability to make headway in that area was as significant a factor in keeping Munster in first gear in the first half as their being shaded in the scrums.
History will reflect that Nche’s tireless efforts didn’t secure the result his work merited and the Sharks will have to qualify for the Champions Cup the hard way, which is to win the URC from a lowly eighth seed position going into the playoffs.
But if the rest of the players can match Nche’s work ethic and drive, it may not be impossible.