FIRST LADY OF RUGBY

Motshidisi Mohono tells YOU how hard work and determination have led her to become one of the country's top sports presenters

- NADINE RAMONGANE

SHE was at school when she watched her first rugby match and one thought ran through her head: this is a weird game.

"It looked like they were fighting," she recalls with a chuckle.

But Motshidisi Mohono's opinion of the game has come a long way since then. These days she's known as South Africa's first lady of rugby and confidently holds her own in the SuperSport studios with the likes of Bok legends Victor Matfield and Jean de Villiers.

At big games she can found in the stadium, analysing the game for viewers and speaking to players and coaches.

Rugby isn't only her favourite sport now, it's her bread and butter and the game around which her life revolves.

She can talk about tactics, rules and strategy for ages, she says. "But," she warns, "I'm probably not the best person to watch a rugby game with - I can get pretty animated and loud."

Motshidisi, wearing a stylish blue dress, adds a touch of glamour to the SuperSport studios in Randburg, Gauteng, where the big names in SA sport and broadcasting work and hang out every day.

As we navigate the hallways, she stops periodically to greet colleagues and exchange a few words.

"It's so nice to walk in here every day," she says. "I've been fascinated with television from a young age. But I never thought I'd be here one day - much less as a rugby anchor."

Motshidisi, who grew up in Katlehong on the East Rand, says her love of sport comes from her late dad, Kenny.

"He was a big soccer fan and as kids my brother and sisters and I would watch with him on the couch."

At school in nearby Alberton, she played netball and hockey and her introduction to rugby came when she was a teenager at Hoërskool Marais Viljoen.

"Rugby was big there. It was a bit strange - I couldn't understand why you'd want to sit in the stands on a hot day in your school blazer to watch this s game.