‘Chubby’ Ox on how the oval ball changed his life

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Ox Nche reveals what set him on the rugby path in a new YouTube series showcasing how the sport has influenced the current crop of Springboks.

First up in one of 10 videos to be launched by SA Rugby, titled ‘How rugby changed my life’, loosehead prop Nche explains how he had no interest in rugby and was dead-set on making a name for himself chasing footballs on soccer fields across the Free State.

“I was at soccer practice and the coach asked me, ‘Why don’t you try rugby?’, so I told him straight up no, that’s too rough,” says Nche, who made his Bok debut in 2018 and was named on the bench to face Ireland in Dublin on Saturday.

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The bug didn’t bite initially, but Nche – who candidly says he’s always been a “chubby kid who could run a bit” – discloses that he eventually started playing rugby when they moved from Thaba ‘Nchu to Bloemfontein.

The penny dropped with Nche when he started playing against boys much heavier than him: “I realised I don’t necessarily have to become big, I just had to be able to stop the big kids coming down my channel.”

The always-smiling Nche, who enjoys sharing his love of cake with his Twitter followers and has built a clothing business called The Ox Kraal, has racked up more than 130 games for the Cheetahs and Sharks, as well as 15 Test caps.

Eben Etzebeth, Trevor Nyakane, Lukhanyo Am and Handre Pollard will be featured on the rest of the clips to be released on the Springbok YouTube channel over the next five weeks.

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Photo: @Springboks/Twitter

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Devin Hermanus