On a windswept Free State farm, far from the razzmatazz of Test arenas and grandstands, the raw foundations of a Springbok were reforged in sweat, soil, and steel.
There, under the unforgiving gaze of scrum sage Daan Human, Lions tighthead prop Asenathi Ntlabakanye traded comfort for crucible—and almost 20 kilograms of ballast for a sleeker, battle-ready body.
The name Ntlabakanye rolls off the tongue like a freight train down a mountain pass. It sounds like strength—and now, it moves like it too. Once tipping the scales at nearly 160kg, the big man has trimmed down to a more agile, still fearsome 141kg, sculpted through old-school graft and farm-forged fitness.
“He’s dropped 15 to 18 kilograms,” confirmed Bok head coach Rassie Erasmus, “and let’s hope he can do what he does at Test match level, which will be great.”
This Saturday at DHL Stadium, the man affectionately known as “Asenathi the Anvil” finally earns his Springbok stripes in a thunderous showdown with the Barbarians—a debut long in the making, but never more deserved.
It didn’t come easy.
With the Lions knocked out of the United Rugby Championship playoffs, Ntlabakanye could have taken his boots off and waited for a phone call. Instead, he answered one from Daan Human—a different kind of coach with a different kind of plan. “Come to the farm,” Human said. And so, he did.
In Bloemfontein’s rural heartland, rugby met rustication. Early mornings began with weight circuits under tin roofs, sprints across muddy pastures, and scrummaging drills that turned soil into battlefields.
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Picture a rhino on a mountain bike, a boulder rolling uphill: awkward at first, but relentless by repetition. The tighthead traded burger buns for beast mode.
There was no high-altitude chamber, no protein smoothies with gold-leaf garnish. Just hard yakka. Lifting feed bags, grappling tractor tyres, dragging chains through thick clay.
It was Rocky Balboa in boots—with a scrum cap.
“He stayed there for a week at a time,” Erasmus said. “Daan worked with him—with the Lions coach and CEO’s blessing—and whenever there was a break, he drove to the farm.”
That’s the kind of buy-in the Boks are cultivating. A culture of grind, not entitlement. A pack where the coaches will dig trenches beside you, if you’re willing to bleed for your place.
Ntlabakanye, once doubted for his size, is now being quietly primed as the long-term heir to Frans Malherbe’s iron throne at tighthead.
The Bok coach cited examples of players considered to be the wrong size for the game.
“If you look at players in the past, like Cheslin [Kolbe], people used to say he’s too light and then you go and say, ‘What area of the game does Cheslin not man up, or Kurt-Lee [Arendse]?’ They make their tackles and tackle guys back,” he explained.
“And it can be the other way around for one of the heavy guys; you look at a guy like Frans [Malherbe] — nobody would say he’s a front-page model or something like that, but hell, Franna can play! He’s solid in the scrum, gets up and makes his tackles … maybe he’s not the most athletic guy.
“We tracked his [Ntlabakaye’s] ‘battle stats’ for two years,” Erasmus added. “They’re up there with almost anyone. He has a phenomenal feel for the game.”
And that feel now comes with footwork. Shedding the extra kilos hasn’t dimmed his power—he’s still a rolling maul in human form—but it’s turbo-charged his mobility and endurance. He won’t just anchor the scrum. He’ll roam, ruck, and rise again. A silent destroyer in green and gold.
For a position built on brute strength, Ntlabakanye’s journey has been as much about heart as heft. He’s proven that front row ferocity isn’t just about girth—but about guts, grit, and the will to evolve.
Ntlabakanye describes his inclusion in the Bok-squad as a revelation.
“I’m feeling good”, he says. “It’s been a nerve-wrecking kind of week and a half for me, but at the same time it’s been exciting.
“It was quite special to share the news with my loved ones, when I first got the call. For me rubbing shoulders and to be around the world’s best has been incredibly
“Being able to do scrum sessions with some of the world’s best looseheads whether it’s going up against Ox [Nche], Gerhard [Steenekamp] or Jan-Hendrik [Wessels] is great.
“I’m learning every day from coach Daan. It’s something new that I have been exposed to and for me it’s been an eye opener,” he added.
On Saturday, when the big man latches down against the Baabas in the Mother City, it won’t just be a debut. It’ll be the harvest of three-and-a-half weeks of blood and bone, iron and will. The farm forged him. The Boks now unleash him.
And if the scrum is a battlefield, Asenathi Ntlabakanye is no longer just a name—he’s a weapon.
