South Africa legend Os du Randt believes sharks forward Tendai Mtawarira has the ability to become one of the "great" Springbok players in history.

The 23-year-old was named man of the match for his performance in the 26-21 first Test victory over the British and Irish Lions on Saturday and received widespread praise for the way he dominated English tight-head Phil Vickery.

"There've been times when I didn't think he scrummed that well, but there are few props who in their first year are able to dominate their opponents at Test level," the du Randt told www.sport24.com.

"Now he just has to be consistent as this will eventually determine if he does become a great player."

Known as the Beast, Mtawarira only has 11 caps to his name after making his debut against Wales in June last year and Du Randt feels that Vickery's tactic to 'step inside' failed due to powerful scrumming from the Zimbabwe-born loose-head.

He continued: "If you use this tactic and then come up against a strong scrummager like Beast or Andrew Sheridan, then you are going to have trouble. That is what happened to Vickery.

"The Boks clearly placed a lot of emphasis on their scrums. We (South Africa) are very proud of this facet of play (scrums) and regard them as a sign of strength. We were clearly eager to scrum well on Saturday."

Du Randt also believes there will be plenty more to come from the Mtawarira in the years ahead.

He said: "I don't think we have yet seen the best of the Beast. He will only in a year's time mature as a front-ranker after he has learnt enough about his opponents, but he has impressed me since last year.

"He definitely has everything it takes to become one of the great players in Bok history."