SOME people visit Edinburgh for its architectural splendour and its many cultural attractions. For Ox Nche, it’s all about the cake.
The Springboks prop, who will pack down opposite Zander Fagerson tomorrow when his team take on Scotland at Murrayfield, appeared a touch worried when he answered questions at a press conference on Wednesday. The cause of his concern: he did not know where his next slice of cake was coming from.
With little time to explore an unfamiliar city, the 26-year-old – whose real first name is Retshegofaditswe – said he had recruited a South African broadcaster to help him out. “I haven’t gone out to explore some cake places, but Matthew Pearce has said he has organised some good quality cake for me,” Nche explained. “I’ll let you know tomorrow. Chocolate caramel would be great, but I’ll settle for vanilla as well.”
True to his word, the forward reported back yesterday via his Twitter account, posting a photo of himself holding a big slice of cake. “Ladies and gentlemen, the cake has landed,” he announced. “I repeat, THE CAKE HAS LANDED!”
Such lighthearted moments help pass the time between matches for players whose movements are still restricted by Covid concerns, although needless to say, Nche will be in an altogether more serious mood when he takes the field tomorrow. He got the better of the front-row battle in his team’s win over Wales last week, but does not expect to have things all his own way against the Scots.
“Honestly, it’s a different kind of battle,” he said. “Their [scrum] coach is Pieter de Villiers. I worked with him in my under-20 and SA schools and I know he’s a pretty good coach. You can see that from how well they did against Australia.
“We’re expecting a different challenge. They do have some pride in their set piece and their maul. They’ve gotten a lot of reward from their scrums and mauls, so we’re expecting a good challenge there. We’ll see how we man up to the challenge.”
Nche will be up against a Scotland front row that includes South African-born Pierre Schoeman, but he insisted that the country of origin of his opponents would not make any difference to his determination to win. “We have a goal to achieve this weekend against their entire pack,” he said. “You have eight South Africans against eight Scottish guys: we don’t see it as seven Scottish guys and Pierre.”
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