You may not know who Brian Mujati is. If so that's a shame, because Mujati is one of the most interesting figures rugby has ever seen. The now-retired Zimbabwean-born South African player carved out a decent career in the UK and France, while also representing South Africa 12 times.
Along the way, he documented his career on his YouTube channel, which he recently extended into a podcast. On both platforms, he discusses his career, struggles with injury, existentialism, parenthood and reviews beer in a candid and entertaining fashion.
Earlier this year Mujati had former Irish centre James Downey on the podcast. Downey played for Leinster, Connacht and Munster but the longest stint of his career was with Northampton Saints where he played alongside Mujati. In fact, they were both involved in that famous Heineken Cup Final against Leinster.
It's not so much an interview as it is two former-teammates catching up and drinking beers, which makes for a unique and enjoyable discussion. Midway through Downey prompts Mujati to remember the lengths they would go to in order to orchestrate a national team call-up, at which point Mujati describes the prank.
The Jimmy I remember used to hang out with me every Wednesday after training and have lunch at TGI Fridays and then we'd drink a whole bunch of beers. I forgot that every once in a while after a couple of beers we'd grab the phone and both pretend to be journalists. We'd call each other's respective national coaches, like I'd pretend to be a journalist, I'd call Declan Kidney and be like 'Why the fuck isn't Jimmy in the Irish team?'
He'd grab the phone and all of a sudden Peter de Villers would be on the line with some random Irish guy 'Hey! Are you watching the Premiership cause if you were watching the Premiership there is no way Brian Mujati wouldn't be playing in the fucking springboks set-up, what's going on with your selection?'
It's just one of many gems within the episode. From their thoughts on that Heineken Cup final defeat to Downey's two stints with Munster, the podcast is outstanding and well-worth a listen.
You can access it in full here.
