South Africa plan 'special' day to honour Tendai 'Beast' Mtawarira
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Saturday 16 June 2018 15:20, UK
Siya Kolisi is promising a 'special' performance to honour Tendai 'Beast' Mtawarira's 100th cap when South Africa face England in Bloemfontein on Saturday.
The Springbok captain has hailed his long-serving prop forward and signposted a performance in part driven by emotion as Eddie Jones' England attempt to exact revenge for last week's 42-39 defeat in Johannesburg.
"We are all proud of him as a team," said Kolisi. "He is very professional. I know when I started he was here and he'd always take the younger guys under his wing. We are excited for him so we will do everything we can to make sure it's special for him."
The 32-year-old Mtawarira, better known as "Beast", is the first Springbok prop to reach a century of Test caps.
"There is nothing better than seeing him running at full tilt and he is playing his 100th game here in South Africa, which is amazing," added Kolisi.
Mtawarira made his Springbok debut against Wales in Pretoria at the age of 22 in June 2008. Since then, the soft-spoken front rower has established himself as a mainstay for both the Sharks and the Springboks.
But Kolisi said his side will need to bring all that experience to bear for this second Test against England.
"We will never make excuses." he said. "We are just striving to be better every week and each week we work harder and harder. We are never relaxed and never satisfied. We want to be better and better each week and we obviously know England will come out harder this weekend."