'You’ve got to have a strong heart': How Stormers got 'Smokin' Joe' Dweba firing again

Stormers forwards coach Rito Hlungwani dug into his shared Shangaan roots to connect with Springbok hooker Joseph Dweba and get him firing again.

Dweba made a high-profile return to South Africa from French club Bordeaux and was thrust into the immediate spotlight when Bok head coach Jacques Nienaber put him in the firing line against the All Blacks at Ellis Park during last year’s Rugby Championship.

It was just his third Test and New Zealand admitted afterwards that they targeted the international rookie, which affected his form thereafter.

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He also had a topsy-turvy start to his Stormers career, getting heavily pinged for skew throws. But Dweba turned his throwing and general play form around, culminating in five United Rugby Championship (URC) tries to date.

"It’s been good. It was easy for us to connect. Coincidentally, we speak the same mother tongue, so I was able to put some tough Shangaan words to him nice and early," said Hlungwani.

"What’s crucial is that when we sign a player here, it means we back him and we believe in their abilities and Joseph knows this.

"The first thing I said to Joseph when he came here was that, 'U fanele ku va na Mbuli yo tiya. You’ve got to have a strong heart.'"

On the lineout issue, Hlungwani said the outside picture looked different in terms of Dweba’s accuracy as it did in the camp.

"Numbers don’t lie. Sometimes one skew lineout or overthrow can take away from the fact that you’ve thrown 42 lineouts and only missed two," the assistant coach said.

"But if I wasn’t a coach, if I was a spectator, I would probably just look at the two missed lineouts. But from my point of view, I think Joseph