Former Cheetahs and Junior Bok hooker Joseph Dweba has opened up about his journey in South African rugby, the unfair treatment he has received and his desire to prove everyone wrong.
In a candid interview with RugbyPass‘ Jamie Lyall, Dweba spoke out against the wide-ranging events and incidents throughout his playing career that all led up to his decision to sign for French club Bordeaux-Begles.
Dweba represented the Golden Lions at age-grade level and later played SA Schools before going on to make the 2014 South Africa U20 squad.
‘With the U20s, I didn’t know what coach Dawie Theron wanted from me. He told me I would play, I gave everything in training, but he never gave me proper game time,’ said Dweba.
‘Then Malcolm Marx tore his ACL in training, and the second-choice hooker, Corniel Els, tore his ACL in the final against England. I had to go on. Wow. I made my lineouts, my scrums, my carries.
‘After the game, the boys, Jesse Kriel and them, were like: “You’re a beast”. What do you mean? I didn’t know what was going on, my eyes were so big. They told me I played a hell of a game.
‘Dawie Theron comes to me and says in Afrikaans that it’s a shame he didn’t play me earlier, because he can see how hungry I was. He tells me straight: “You are going to be my starting hooker next year.”‘
Dweba didn’t even have a phone at that stage, far less an advocate to negotiate contracts and secure goodies on his behalf. He found a reliable representative, who helped him sign professional terms with the Cheetahs.
Dweba began life in Bloemfontein poor and car-less and Franco Smith’s fifth-choice hooker, finishing up at Louis Botha, high school number four. He borrowed Smith’s bike to cycle the 10km to training twice a day. He says Rory Duncan, who led the team’s maiden PRO14 campaign, ‘promised me the moon’ but his opportunities on the field were as rare and fleeting as a lunar eclipse.
Dweba: I want to do this for my family
‘Sorry for my language, but I have been b****** and f***** around so many times. I was getting a minute here, two minutes there. I never got clear game time,’ he said.
‘Torsten van Jaarsveld was first-choice hooker and I was promoted to the bench when he injured his neck. Torsten comes back, and Rory tells me that the senior guy is back, so we just have to make space for him.
‘I’m saying: “Coach, you just said a month ago that Torsten has to work his way back into the team – it looks like he’s walking back into it, and worst of all, he’s starting.” That p**** me off a lot. And I did not understand.
‘The defence coach tells me to be patient. I can’t be patient for that long, my contract is coming to an end, I need to prove myself, and the Mrs is also pregnant with my kid. I’m giving my all in the training sessions, but this guy is not recognising me and not giving me a contract,’ he explained.
The Cheetahs would eventually offer him a new deal, but then withdrew it when Dweba took his time to respond. Their recruitment chief told him that players were investments, and so far the franchise wasn’t getting much return on its money.
‘I went to Harold Verster, the CEO of the company, and told him: “You are the only guy I’m telling this, but we’re having a baby, my contract is coming to an end and I want to stay at the Free State, so please help me out”,’ Dweba said.
‘They gave me the exact same offer that they had taken off the table. It was a s*** contract. I don’t care, I’m having a baby I’ll sign the contract and I’ll work my a** off. I’m going to show them something different about myself. Torsten had just left, he told me as he was leaving: “This is your jersey, take it, and if you don’t take it, then you’re stupid”.’
Dweba said he started to train like a man possessed, because he felt it was he his time to shine.
‘Franco Smith himself did not understand what was happening to me. I was hungry. This was my time. When the Currie Cup hit, I just went all out. That’s when people started to recognise, there’s the Joseph Dweba we know – there he is.’
Dweba has been in superb touch for the Cheetahs under new coach Hawies Fourie. He was named Currie Cup Player of the Year after the Cheetahs were crowned champions in 2019 and in the PRO14 he scored seven tries in 12 games while the team’s lineout is among the most effective in the competition.
Watch: Dweba runs in scintillating try
Since the suspension of the PRO14 season, Dweba has signed an overseas contract with Bordeaux, but he believes the move will not hinder his hopes of becoming a Springbok.
‘Jacques Nienaber, the new coach, said I am in their plans and that moving to France won’t disadvantage me. If I stayed in South Africa, it is much easier for them to call me up, but if I’m shooting the lights out in the Top 14, I’m definitely going to be chosen.
‘I have to look after my family. We can put the money we earn in France aside. I feel like I can fit in properly in the league, and I feel like I can dominate, I want to dominate. I want them to know who I am and what I stand for.
‘And it’s not just the money. I could have easily chosen a different club – I went to see Castres, Toulouse, Lyon, and the last one was Bordeaux. That solidified everything for me, because the head coach [Christophe Urios] was a hooker himself, he would help me improve my skills and the team is very good, I’m not just going there to fill in the numbers.’
Photo: Frikkie Kapp/BackpagePix
