Hailed as one of the best scrumming hookers in the country, Joseph Dweba is eager to improve his “battle stats” at the DHL Stormers to earn a recall to the Springboks. DYLAN JACK reports.
Dweba is reportedly back on the Springbok radar as Rassie Erasmus puts contingency plans in place for the opening Test of the year against Wales at Twickenham.
According to Sunday newspaper Rapport, the 28-year-old was invited to last Friday’s virtual alignment camp, having been overlooked for the first camp of the year in Cape Town in March.
Dweba, who made his Test debut in 2021, played for the Springboks in the World Cup warm-up against Argentina in Buenos Aires in August 2023, but Erasmus opted not to call him up when Malcolm Marx suffered a freak training ground injury during the tournament in France.
However, Dweba has been in impressive form for the DHL Stormers this season, improving his heavily criticised lineout throwing as well as his work-rate.
“As a player you always strive to play for your country, I will always push for that. It starts at your union,” Dweba said, during a press conference on Monday afternoon.
“Battle-rate, work-rate, just being busy around the park,” he added, when asked about what he felt he needed to work on. “As a front rower I will always be judged on my set-pieces, so I have been working on just doing my job.”
Stormers forwards coach Rito Hlungwani said that Dweba’s scrumming ability is a strength that often gets overlooked when it comes to discussions around the hookers in the country.
“Joseph is probably one of the best scrumming hookers we have in the country, possibly in the world right now,” Hlungwani said. “The level of detail that he goes through with his teammates, the intensity he brings at training, his refusal to lose even one scrum at training, is pretty impressive.
“It’s something he really focuses on. He probably doesn’t get as much credit for it, but he takes it really seriously. He is really effective at it. You can ask the props, they really enjoy scrumming with him. It’s really important in a pack, to have a hooker who takes the scrum seriously. When it all falls into place and you get a scrum penalty, it’s an opportunity for points.
“So it’s massive for us to have a hooker like Joseph who can help us push for those scrum penalties, giving us more opportunities to score points. He is one of the best scrumming hookers and we really enjoy having him around.”
Photo: Shaun Roy/Gallo Images
