On Saturday Tendai ‘Beast’ Mtawarira will run out for his 100th test match in a Springbok jersey, and the crowd will belt out the usual ‘Beeeeaaaassssst’ warcry.

Yes, even the crowd in Bloemfontein.

The 32-year-old is used to hearing the crowd roar his nickname every time he touches the ball, but back in 2010 he was almost booted out the country that he has come to love representing.

His story, reported by the Citizen:

Popularly referred to as the “Shona Springbok”, Mtawarira is a naturalised South African.

In fact, the Zimbabwe-born powerhouse spent his formative years in his native country, punishing opponents on the field whilst playing on a scholarship at Peterhouse, one of Zimbabwe’s foremost private schools.

Recruited by the Sharks academy after school, Mtawarira made the trek south and rapidly climbed the ranks at Kings Park and made his Test debut against Wales in 2008.

Then came what Beast calls the darkest period of his life:

Despite World Rugby, the sport’s governing body, ruling he was eligible to play for South Africa, Mtawarira was threatened with deportation in early 2010.

At the time, government ruled that only nationals could play for the Springboks and that he was still a Zimbabwe national, prompting then chair of parliament’s sports portfolio committee, Buthana Komphela, to threaten to charge SA Rugby and send Mtawarira on his way.

For six months the issue dragged on as home affairs continued to delay the processing of his application for citizenship.

But Mtawarira was defiant.

“I am a South African at heart. I love this country. It has become my home. It is everything to me,” he said at the time.

“Wearing the green and gold of the Springboks is a huge honour for me. That jersey is part of me. The green and gold flows in my blood.”

In mid-2010, the drama was over: Beast Mtawarira was officially a South African.

At the risk of sounding like Shakira, Beast says this one’s for Africa:

Beast formed a formidable front row with the du Plessis brothers, Jannie and Bismarck, and both are full of praise for their partner in crime:

“I would never have guessed that I would have played alongside a Zimbabwean for so many years,” Jannie told SA Rugby Magazine.

“I always knew that I could count on him in the heat of battle. To be honest, Beast is like another brother to me”…

“Beast will go down in history as a Bok who gave people hope, a Bok who never backed down from any challenge,” Bismarck also told the magazine.

“He’s gone through phases in his career when people, from sport writers to coaches, were saying that he wasn’t good enough. Time and again, he’s shown what a big heart he has.”

Here’s hoping we get to see at least one of those rampaging runs from the big man on the weekend.

Everyone who reaches 100 caps deserves a video montage, and this effort, from last November, is pretty decent:

[source:citizen]