There are rugby players you admire because they are brilliant. There are rugby players you love because they are characters.
Then there is Ox Nché.
FloRugby ranked the South Africa Rugby and Hollywoodbets Sharks loosehead prop No. 9 among the Top 100 Rugby Players in the World entering the 2026-27 season, and the rugby case is formidable. He can wreck a scrum, change a Test match from the bench and make opposing tightheads reconsider some life choices.
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But Ox has also given rugby “Salads don’t win scrums,” turned cake into part of his personal mythology and somehow made one of the sport’s least glamorous positions enormously entertaining.
So forget the scouting report for a moment.
Here are 10 reasons I and rugby fans everywhere should love Ox Nché.
10. He Started As A Chubby Soccer Kid
Before becoming one of the most intimidating props in international rugby, Nché wasn't necessarily destined for the front row.
He didn't begin playing rugby until he was 13. Before that, he described himself as a “chubby” kid playing soccer in the Free State. A grade-school teacher encouraged him to try rugby.
That worked out reasonably well.
There is something wonderfully rugby about the trajectory. One sport's chubby kid can become another sport's world champion. Nché eventually made his Springbok debut in 2018, won the 2023 Rugby World Cup and reached his 50th Test in 2026.
Sometimes you just need to find your sport.
9. He Is Basically A Scrum Scientist
The easiest way to misunderstand Nché is to look at his build and conclude that his scrummaging is simply a product of extraordinary power.
He would disagree.
Nché has described scrummaging as “70% technique,” and his preparation reflects it. His routine includes video analysis, gym work and live scrummaging. He studies opponents and thinks about how the entire South African pack fits together.
He also earned a bachelor's degree in geography and statistics from the University of the Free State while building his rugby career.
So, yes, Ox can fold enormous humans. But he has done the homework first.
8. He Actually Enjoys The Difficult Scrums
Nché has identified Ireland's Tadhg Furlong as a favorite opponent for an extremely Ox reason.
“He doesn't go away,” Nché said. “I enjoy that.”
Most people confronted by a massive, technically excellent prop who refuses to disappear would consider this an inconvenience.
Ox apparently considers it a good afternoon.
That competitive streak also appears in the way he describes his approach to wearing down an opponent. The opening scrum is the beginning of a process. Keep applying pressure. Keep forcing the tighthead to work. Keep making him think.
By the fourth scrum?
“He's no longer looking at me in the eyes.”
That is cold.
7. Another Prop Said Ox Made His Spine Go ‘Cluck, Cluck, Cluck’
We could spend several paragraphs explaining the forces involved when Nché engages another international prop.
Or we could allow Tonga's Ben Tameifuna to handle this.
“The first scrum, we hit in and I just felt my spine go ‘cluck, cluck, cluck,’” Tameifuna said. “He is so powerful. I wanted his jersey.”
Tameifuna is himself an enormous international prop.
When that guy (6-foot, 326 pounds) describes the experience of scrummaging against you using the sound effects from his spinal column, you've probably earned a spot on this list.
6. He Gave Rugby ‘Salads Don't Win Scrums’
The line has become so closely associated with Nché that it would be easy to assume it was simply a meme attached to a prop who likes cake.
Nope.
Asked about his strength and diet, Nché delivered one of the great modern front-row philosophies:
“Salads don't win scrums. I count slices of cake, not calories.”
Perfect. No notes.
The cake thing isn't merely a throwaway line, either. Nché's affection for it has become part of his public persona, and after his heroics against England at the 2023 World Cup, a South African supermarket reportedly rewarded him with a year's supply.
Some athletes get endorsement deals. Ox got cake.
Know your brand.
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BONUS: You Can Buy A 'Salads Don't Win Scrums' Christmas Sweater
Yep. I own one.
“Salads Don’t Win Scrums” 🥗➡️🍰@OxNche embraces the festive spirit with his new jumper! Get yours now 👉 https://t.co/f8H85156HJ #OxChristmas pic.twitter.com/0Sl2Bsi9H7
— BKT United Rugby Championship (URC) (@URCOfficial) December 2, 2024
5. He Wants Rugby To Keep The Big Boys
Nché also understands something fundamental about rugby's appeal: The sport has room for bodies that might not fit elsewhere.
When proposed scrum-law changes became a talking point, he defended the set piece with characteristic directness.
“If we don't want the scrum in rugby then we should just start watching rugby league,” Nché said.
His larger point was better than the punchline. Rugby, he said, is “the one sport for all shapes and sizes,” and the scrum provides a place “where the big boys can also take each other on.”
Ox isn't merely good at an unusual specialty. He appreciates why that specialty belongs in rugby.
4. The Bomb Squad Is Basically A Horror-Movie Entrance
Imagine playing 50 or 60 minutes of Test rugby against South Africa's forwards.
You're tired. Your legs are heavy. You've survived.
Then Ox Nché starts jogging toward you.
This is the genius — and cruelty — of South Africa's Bomb Squad.
Nché can arrive from the bench and immediately change the scrum against a front row that has already spent much of the match wrestling with Springbok forwards.
All Blacks prop Tamaiti Williams summed up the problem nicely: “They do damage when they come on.”
And that damage has consequences casual fans can easily understand. Scrum dominance can produce penalties. Penalties create possession, territory and scoring opportunities. A match that appeared under control can suddenly start tilting toward South Africa.
Which brings us to England.
3. He Helped Flip A World Cup Semifinal
If anyone needs evidence that a loosehead prop can change one of the biggest matches in rugby, watch what happened in the 2023 Rugby World Cup semifinal.
England had South Africa in serious trouble.
Then Nché entered.
His impact on the scrum helped transform the contest. South Africa won four scrum penalties after his arrival, with the set piece becoming a pathway back into a match England had been controlling.
Eventually, another scrum penalty gave Handré Pollard the opportunity to kick the Springboks ahead.
South Africa won 16-15.
Props don't score many spectacular 60-meter tries. Their highlights don't always translate cleanly to social media.
But Nché demonstrated something better in Paris: A truly dominant prop can alter the geometry of an entire match.
2. He Has The Numbers To Back Up The Legend
Nché's cult-hero status would be fun even if he were merely a very good international prop.
Unfortunately for opposing tightheads, he is much more than that.
In the 2025 Rugby Championship, Nché won 19 scrum penalties — eight more than any other player.
An analytics ranking also rated him the No. 1 URC player with a score of 95.2 in 2025.
And he isn't simply waiting around for scrums. Data in the research credits him with roughly five tackles and four carries per game, while he made 54 tackles and 57 carries during the 2025-26 URC season.
That's the point of FloRugby ranking him No. 9 in the world.
Nché's personality makes him lovable. His rugby makes the affection very easy to justify.
1. He Can Destroy Your Scrum And Make You Smile About It
This is the Ox Nché experience.
He is one of the world's great specialists in one of rugby's most physically brutal arts. He studies it obsessively. He tries to exhaust opponents. He wants them doubting themselves by the fourth engagement. He helped swing a World Cup semifinal and has produced statistical scrum dominance that separates him even from other elite props.
And somehow the same man is talking about cake.
He credits teammates because, as he puts it, “you don't just win a scrum alone; you win it together.” He went from a kid playing soccer in the Free State to a World Cup-winning Springbok. His community honored him, and he spoke about how humbling it was to discover schoolchildren back home knew his name.
That's what separates Nché from simply being a phenomenal loosehead.
Rugby has plenty of superstars.
Ox feels like a rugby character in the best possible sense — a 120-plus-kilogram reminder that this sport has room for technicians, bruisers, thinkers, jokers, big personalities and very big slices of cake.
FloRugby has him No. 9 in the world. Salad remains unranked.
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