Hero of the week: Ox Nche

Rugby World Cup
Brenden Nel
It was Marie Antoinette who coined the phrase: “Let them eat cake!” when told of the starving in the streets of Paris during King Louis XIV’s reign almost 300 years ago.

But on a night in the same city few would have imagined that a cake-eating beomoth would shake Parisian foundations to their core with a performance that would earn his countrymen a chance to take a gold chalice – well, perhaps that’s pushing it a bit – home with them a week later.

Ox Nche, the quiet-mannered, smiling prop whose twitter pic of him with a slice of the sweet stuff alongside a sign that reads: “Salads don’t win scrums” – is the hero of the hour.

While the pic went viral, Nche did exactly what he was supposed to. He came on and made a difference in the scrum.

With the Boks in trouble, and 15-6 behind on the scoreboard with time ticking down, Nche saddled up, and gave some of the sweet stuff – in the form of a monster scrum – back to the Bok fans.

In all he was instrumental in the Boks winning four scrums in a row, and while Vincent Koch will claim the bragging rights for the fifth and crucial scrum that gave Handre Pollard his penalty, Nche was the hero personified.

Pollard took the honour for man of the match with the 50-metre bomb that tilted the scoreboard in the Boks’ favour but every Bok fan knew where that came from.

The momentum shifted up front, in the dark places that props only chuckle about. It was here, away from the camera shots that the Boks’ World Cup was saved, and they lived to fight another day.

So when Nche wants another slice of cake, buy him a Parisian patisserie.

He deserves to have his cake and eat it too.

– SuperSport

Comments

Namibian Sun 2024-05-10

No comments have been left on this article

Please login to leave a comment

Katima Mulilo: 13° | 33° Rundu: 13° | 33° Eenhana: 14° | 34° Oshakati: 16° | 33° Ruacana: 17° | 34° Tsumeb: 17° | 31° Otjiwarongo: 15° | 31° Omaruru: 18° | 32° Windhoek: 16° | 28° Gobabis: 16° | 30° Henties Bay: 14° | 20° Wind speed: 24km/h, Wind direction: S, Low tide: 10:44, High tide: 04:42, Low Tide: 22:59, High tide: 17:11 Swakopmund: 15° | 17° Wind speed: 31km/h, Wind direction: SW, Low tide: 10:42, High tide: 04:40, Low Tide: 22:57, High tide: 17:09 Walvis Bay: 16° | 23° Wind speed: 36km/h, Wind direction: S, Low tide: 10:42, High tide: 04:39, Low Tide: 22:57, High tide: 17:08 Rehoboth: 16° | 29° Mariental: 18° | 30° Keetmanshoop: 13° | 29° Aranos: 18° | 30° Lüderitz: 13° | 27° Ariamsvlei: 10° | 25° Oranjemund: 13° | 20° Luanda: 25° | 28° Gaborone: 15° | 31° Lubumbashi: 14° | 30° Mbabane: 16° | 25° Maseru: 11° | 25° Antananarivo: 13° | 23° Lilongwe: 16° | 28° Maputo: 18° | 29° Windhoek: 16° | 28° Cape Town: 13° | 17° Durban: 19° | 24° Johannesburg: 17° | 26° Dar es Salaam: 23° | 31° Lusaka: 17° | 30° Harare: 14° | 28° Currency: GBP to NAD 23.05 | EUR to NAD 19.85 | CNY to NAD 2.55 | USD to NAD 18.42 | DZD to NAD 0.14 | AOA to NAD 0.02 | BWP to NAD 1.31 | EGP to NAD 0.38 | KES to NAD 0.14 | NGN to NAD 0.01 | ZMW to NAD 0.66 | ZWL to NAD 0.04 | BRL to NAD 3.58 | RUB to NAD 0.2 | INR to NAD 0.22 | USD to DZD 133.98 | USD to AOA 834.06 | USD to BWP 13.6 | USD to EGP 47.35 | USD to KES 130.98 | USD to NGN 1439.8 | USD to ZAR 18.42 | USD to ZMW 26.75 | USD to ZWL 321 | Stock Exchange: JSE All Share Index 77539.13 Up +0.47% | Namibian Stock Exchange (NSX) Overall Index 1733.43 Up +1.10% | Casablanca Stock Exchange (CSE) MASI 13478.23 Up +0.44% | Egyptian Exchange (EGX) 30 Index 26003.16 Up +0.05% | Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) DCI Same 0 | NSX: MTC 7.75 SAME | Anirep 8.99 SAME | Capricorn Investment group 17.34 SAME | FirstRand Namibia Ltd 49 DOWN 0.50% | Letshego Holdings (Namibia) Ltd 4.1 UP 2.50% | Namibia Asset Management Ltd 0.7 SAME | Namibia Breweries Ltd 31.49 UP 0.03% | Nictus Holdings - Nam 2.22 SAME | Oryx Properties Ltd 12.1 UP 1.70% | Paratus Namibia Holdings 11.99 SAME | SBN Holdings 8.45 SAME | Trustco Group Holdings Ltd 0.48 SAME | B2Gold Corporation 47.34 DOWN 1.50% | Local Index closed 677.62 UP 0.12% | Overall Index closed 1534.6 DOWN 0.05% | Osino Resources Corp 19.47 DOWN 2.41% | Commodities: Gold US$ 2 364.24/OZ UP +0.75% | Copper US$ 4.62/lb UP +1.32% | Zinc US$ 2 956.60/T UP 1.29% | Brent Crude Oil US$ 83.57/BBP DOWN -0.0129 | Platinum US$ 996.44/OZ UP +1.13% Sport results: Weather: Katima Mulilo: 13° | 33° Rundu: 13° | 33° Eenhana: 14° | 34° Oshakati: 16° | 33° Ruacana: 17° | 34° Tsumeb: 17° | 31° Otjiwarongo: 15° | 31° Omaruru: 18° | 32° Windhoek: 16° | 28° Gobabis: 16° | 30° Henties Bay: 14° | 20° Wind speed: 24km/h, Wind direction: S, Low tide: 10:44, High tide: 04:42, Low Tide: 22:59, High tide: 17:11 Swakopmund: 15° | 17° Wind speed: 31km/h, Wind direction: SW, Low tide: 10:42, High tide: 04:40, Low Tide: 22:57, High tide: 17:09 Walvis Bay: 16° | 23° Wind speed: 36km/h, Wind direction: S, Low tide: 10:42, High tide: 04:39, Low Tide: 22:57, High tide: 17:08 Rehoboth: 16° | 29° Mariental: 18° | 30° Keetmanshoop: 13° | 29° Aranos: 18° | 30° Lüderitz: 13° | 27° Ariamsvlei: 10° | 25° Oranjemund: 13° | 20° Luanda: 25° | 28° Gaborone: 15° | 31° Lubumbashi: 14° | 30° Mbabane: 16° | 25° Maseru: 11° | 25° Antananarivo: 13° | 23° Lilongwe: 16° | 28° Maputo: 18° | 29° Windhoek: 16° | 28° Cape Town: 13° | 17° Durban: 19° | 24° Johannesburg: 17° | 26° Dar es Salaam: 23° | 31° Lusaka: 17° | 30° Harare: 14° | 28° Economic Indicators: Currency: GBP to NAD 23.05 | EUR to NAD 19.85 | CNY to NAD 2.55 | USD to NAD 18.42 | DZD to NAD 0.14 | AOA to NAD 0.02 | BWP to NAD 1.31 | EGP to NAD 0.38 | KES to NAD 0.14 | NGN to NAD 0.01 | ZMW to NAD 0.66 | ZWL to NAD 0.04 | BRL to NAD 3.58 | RUB to NAD 0.2 | INR to NAD 0.22 | USD to DZD 133.98 | USD to AOA 834.06 | USD to BWP 13.6 | USD to EGP 47.35 | USD to KES 130.98 | USD to NGN 1439.8 | USD to ZAR 18.42 | USD to ZMW 26.75 | USD to ZWL 321 | Stock Exchange: JSE All Share Index 77539.13 Up +0.47% | Namibian Stock Exchange (NSX) Overall Index 1733.43 Up +1.10% | Casablanca Stock Exchange (CSE) MASI 13478.23 Up +0.44% | Egyptian Exchange (EGX) 30 Index 26003.16 Up +0.05% | Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) DCI Same 0 | NSX: MTC 7.75 SAME | Anirep 8.99 SAME | Capricorn Investment group 17.34 SAME | FirstRand Namibia Ltd 49 DOWN 0.50% | Letshego Holdings (Namibia) Ltd 4.1 UP 2.50% | Namibia Asset Management Ltd 0.7 SAME | Namibia Breweries Ltd 31.49 UP 0.03% | Nictus Holdings - Nam 2.22 SAME | Oryx Properties Ltd 12.1 UP 1.70% | Paratus Namibia Holdings 11.99 SAME | SBN Holdings 8.45 SAME | Trustco Group Holdings Ltd 0.48 SAME | B2Gold Corporation 47.34 DOWN 1.50% | Local Index closed 677.62 UP 0.12% | Overall Index closed 1534.6 DOWN 0.05% | Osino Resources Corp 19.47 DOWN 2.41% | Commodities: Gold US$ 2 364.24/OZ UP +0.75% | Copper US$ 4.62/lb UP +1.32% | Zinc US$ 2 956.60/T UP 1.29% | Brent Crude Oil US$ 83.57/BBP DOWN -0.0129 | Platinum US$ 996.44/OZ UP +1.13%