'Beast' Mtawarira no longer eligible for Boks

Article Published: Saturday 5 June 2010

The South African Rugby Union says it has been instructed by the country's ministry of sport to stop selecting Tendai Mtawarira for the national team because he is not a South African citizen.

SARU said Saturday it had told its selectors they could no longer pick the Zimbabwe-born prop, who has played 22 tests for South Africa, after it had received a letter from the deputy sports minister on Friday.

Mtawarira, nicknamed "Beast" by fans, is legally resident in South Africa and fulfilled the eligibility criteria of the International Rugby Board, according to SARU, but does not hold a South African passport.

The letter said that no foreign player can be selected to a national team.

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ok HTF did he manage to play for them if he wasnt a citizen?? thats always been the rule there and the main reason why a number of other talented Zimbabweans have not been able to play... They mustve used plenty of Rands for someone/s to turn a blind eye :S:eek:

So did he only play 22 tests in South Africa?

Can't he just apply for a passport?

The South African Rugby Union announced on Friday that prop Tendai Mtawarira had been cleared for selection for the Springboks following the granting of South African citizenship.
Mtawarira was unavailable for selection for the Springboks’ first four Tests of 2010 – against Wales, France and Italy (2) – as he was not a holder of South African passport. The decision to exclude him form selection was taken following advice from the Ministry of Sport reaffirming the government’s position that no foreign player can be selected to represent a national team.

Mtawarira had been actively seeking South African citizenship and has now been granted that right by the minister for Home Affairs, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma

“This is very gratifying news indeed and thanks to much hard work that has been going on behind the scenes over the past few months,” said Mr Oregan Hoskins, president of the South African Rugby Union.

“I’d like to personally thank Minister Dlamini-Zuma for her intervention to assist in this matter. It had long been the Beast’s desire to become naturalised and he has had to endure some difficult times in recent months. He is now eligible for selection should he fit into the plans of the coach and national selectors.”

The Springbok squad for the away-leg of the Vodacom Tri-Nations will be named by Mr Hoskins and Springbok head coach Peter de Villiers on Saturday evening. It will be broadcast live on SuperSport 1.

http://www.sarugby.net/newsarticle.a...team=&newscat=

good news for him!