The Sunday Mail
Tinashe Kusema
Deputy Sports Editor
Having hung up his rugby boots in 2003, Adrian Garvey has gone on to form yet another awe-inspiring partnership with former teammate Gary Teichmann.
But the two are now members of T3 Drilling, a company that provides specialised drilling and associated services to the mining industry in Africa.
Now 52, the former Zimbabwe Sables and Springbok great spends most of his time either gallivanting across the continent with T3 Drilling or at his Ballito home with his wife Melissa and their three girls — Tegan, Tatum-Lea and Stevie. However, it was during one of the drilling ventures in Zambia that The Sunday Mail Sport caught up with former Zimbabwe and South Africa number three.
He shared numerous tales of his illustrious rugby career. Among Garvey’s many achievements, he holds the rare distinction of representing two different teams at two separate World Cups. Garvey makes a killer first impression, whether it is joking about a WhatsApp profile picture or his favourite rugby quote that claims “archaeological records show that beer was invented to stop props from taking over the world”.
He also has an obsession with the number three in which he spent the whole of his rugby career playing as a tight-head prop.
Little wonder his company is also called T3 Drilling.
When his third child Stevie was born, Garvey famously found himself “parked in Bay Three, headed to the ward on the third floor, and my wife in the third bed . . . ”
“Really, it was just tongue in cheek, as I had said before, props are genuinely considered slow thinking,” said Garvey in reference to his favourite quote.
He spent his career in that number three position, during which he made 10 appearances for Zimbabwe (1990-1993) and 28 Tests for South Africa (1996-1999).
Also included in those numbers are two World Cup appearances for both Zimbabwe (1991) and South Africa (1999), a record he holds together with just a handful of other internationals.
He also had stints with Old Miltonians (1986 -1992), Newport (2000-2003), Natal (1992-1999) and Golden Lions (2000) provincially, and Sharks (1996 -1999) and Cats (2000) in the Super Rugby.
Other notable achievements are scoring two tries for Zimbabwe during the team’s 51-12 loss to Scotland at the 1991 Rugby World Cup, and being a member of the 1999 Springboks.
The 1987 and 1991 World Cup editions remain the country’s only appearances.
Eight years later, Garvey was a member of the Springboks outfit which finished third at the Wales tournament, having come into the contest on the back of a 17-game unbeaten run.
“I absolutely loved my rugby career, from my days at Matabeleland Rugby Club to playing for Zimbabwe, and right to my time in South Africa. “I played for Zimbabwe, have very fond memories there and have many good friends from my time there.
“It was amateur rugby, we had an unbelievable time and so was playing for the Springboks,” he said.
“I also cannot say playing two different World Cups for two different teams made my career better . . . “It just made it different and I wouldn’t change it for the world.
“However, if I am to have regrets, it is that I do not have a World Cup medal right now.
“I would be talking to you with the medal around my neck.”
The 1999 Springboks side is regarded as one of the best assembled outfits in that country’s history, as Garvey had big-name teammates such as Rassie Erasmus, Andre Venter, Mark Andrews and Joost van der Westhuizen, to name but a few.
The team also went for 17 Tests unbeaten between August 1997 and December 1998, before their encounter with the British Lions.
“We were a much stronger outfit and were coached, at the time, by a very inexperienced Carel Du Plessis.
“We had a core player base of guys who were in their prime, and, unfortunately, Carel (du Plessis) just couldn’t put it together.
“I remember we were all over them during the first two Tests; we scrummed them, we lined them and we bullied them.
“In the end, we won the last Test, but lost the series as they had won the first two games.
“That (ending the streak) was a disappointment, as it would have been nice to take the streak longer and also won the World Cup.”
The team were favourites for the World Cup but coach Nick Mallet (who had taken over from du Plessis) made one silly decision: He dropped Gary Teichmann for Bob Skinstad, and then Skinstad had an injury and couldn’t captain the team.
“In the end, we lost to Australia (21-27) in the semi-final as Stephen Larkam kicked a ridiculous drop-kick to win the game, and they went on to beat France (35-12) in the final,” Garvey said.
He still takes pride in an illustrious career.
He has a 1996 Currie Cup medal and an impressive win ratio with the Boks.
With the Boks, Garvey won 24 games and lost only four, and holds an 86 percent win ratio with the team.
Through it all, he credits Zimbabwe for shaping him into the prop he became, and is remembered in history as “Turbo Prop”.
“I wasn’t built for a prop. I certainly did not have the weight, strength and there was no way I would have gone beyond school rugby if I had come up in the South African circuit.
“I was slim-built, I was a swimmer and Zimbabwe helped me a lot in that regard.
“While we had to scrum, in Zimbabwe it wasn’t as important.
“We relied on our fitness and agility, getting around the park and I had started to put up some weight by the time I left Zimbabwe for South Africa.
“I still had a lot of work to do, and I did that in South Africa during the years 1994 to 1995.”
Garvey is one of the Zimbabwe Rugby Union’s ambassadors and is currently involved in rallying support for the Sables in their qualification bid for the 2023 World Cup in France.
