'Salads don't win scrums' Nché is icing on the Boks' front-row cake
The Guardian|November 14, 2024
A member of South Africa's 'Bomb Squad', loosehead was crucial to World Cup win in 2023 and is a hero back home
Gerard Meagher
'Salads don't win scrums' Nché is icing on the Boks' front-row cake

Nché is far from the finished article. By his own admission, the Springboks prop has just about mastered the basics. He's not bad at the flourishing touches but there is a long way to go in his development. "I'm learning, actually. I can do just one layer," he admits. "And obviously the icing."

Nché is, of course, talking about making cakes. The 17-stone loosehead is obsessed with them. His favourite is chocolate caramel, his mantra is that "salads don't win scrums" and asked the secret to his set-piece prowess he bursts into a bout of infectious laughter before shooting back "cake!"

He was given a year's supply by a supermarket in South Africa after his starring role in helping the Springboks past England in last year's World Cup semi-final and is responsible for the catering whenever there is a birthday in the squad. We are speaking in Jersey - where South Africa chose to hold a training camp - and his eyes light up when he learns the Channel Island is famous for its cream.

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