How Orlando Pirates’ Tshegofatso Mabasa can be a hit at Stellenbosch

Stellenbosch coach Hugo Broos is convinced Orlando Pirates loanee Tshegofatso Mabasa has the needed quality to excel at the club.

The Bafana Bafana striker joined Stellies from the Soweto giants until the end of the ongoing 2025/26 Premier Soccer League campaign. The towering forward had failed to break into Abdeslam Ouaddou’s starting XI, and struggled for game-time as well.

Mabasa has since scored three goals for Hunt’s men who are now in the afe zone, following their recovery from initial struggles that threatened their PSL status.

The former Kaizer Chiefs tactician is convinced that with enough service, Mabasa has the potential of getting many goals. He further insists the physique favours him when coming up against defenders.

Last weekend, the towering atatcker scored twice as his team beat Chippa United 2-1 to climb into the top eight in the log.

Orlando Pirates’ Tshegofatso Mabasa needs service

“I said to my guys on Thursday, ‘You can’t play Mabasa if you’re not going to service him; you have to service a striker’. He doesn’t do the things that Pirates wants him to do [press defences], which I understand, he doesn’t do that for us either,” Hunt said in a presser.

“But if you service him, he will score because this guy can score. On Wednesday, he had one chance he should have scored, maybe two. But if you play wide, you’ve got to service him. So, if you service him and put balls across, he’ll come across into your post and score.

“He’s got that five-metre strike to go into the net; you can’t buy that. He can score goals, but it’s no good having a striker if you don’t give him the ball.

“We’re trying to score from the wide areas, trying to score from the width; the goals always say so, so we need to service him,” he concluded.