‘HOW I GOT A PASSION GAP’

NIZAAM Carr, the Cape Town‑born, Mitchells Plain‑raised loose forward who made history as the first Muslim to take the field for the Springboks, recently pulled back the curtain on more than just his rugby career. 

Carr was a guest on the podcast “Behind the Ruck”, hosted by former Springboks Rudy Paige and Juan de Jongh, where rugby meets real talk.

The two‑hour episode delivered everything: match memories, faith journeys, family roots and yes, a moment that had us breeking (laughing out loud) ourselves.

In the segment “I show, he tells”, Carr scrolls through childhood and career snapshots. 

One photo shows him between Springbok captain Siya Kolisi and Stormers hooker, Scarra Ntubeni, standing in a hotel lobby.

“And then the last one, which is an interesting one. Obviously, you’re a teammate of this bad boy,” De Jongh said, showing an image of  Carr with Kolisi and Ntubeni. But there was one thing missing, Carr’s front tooth.

Carr shared the backstory himself. He explained that Kolisi and Ntubeni asked him to pose without the tooth, which is hilarious and adorable at the same time. 

The tooth had loosened after a heavy tackle from former Lions hooker Willie Wepener during a match. An incident that Paige jokingly said might have deserved a red card.

“He hit me so hard. The tooth was loose but didn’t fall out immediately. And then a week later I realised something is not right,” he said.

“And then I was eating, the tooth fell out, and then the people called it a 'passion gap'."