Colossal impact
20 Nov 2012
Eben Etzebeth had an outstanding first season of professional rugby.
In 2011, Etzebeth played for the University of Cape Town in the Varsity Cup. In 2012, he became a Springbok regular.
The second rower, who turned 21 on 29 October, was a deserved winner of the SA Young Player of the Year award. A product of the WP Rugby Institute, he had no problem making the step up to Super Rugby in February and his selection for the Springboks in June, for the Test series against England, was a no-brainer.
Etzebeth has inevitably drawn comparisons with former Bok lock Bakkies Botha, as both perform an enforcer-type role, but the Stormers lock has a calmness and measured aggression that Botha did not have at the same age.
It’s scary to think how good he could become.
BUY THE NEW ISSUE NOW FOR JUST R5.95 (DIGITAL EDITION) OR GET 12 ISSUES FOR JUST R69.95!
In the new issue of SA Rugby magazine, Saru high performance manager Rassie Erasmus explains why the Botha comparison makes him ‘uncomfortable’, what makes Etzebeth such an imposing player and why he doesn’t believe the youngster will stagnate.
Heyneke Meyer talks about what he likes about Etzebeth, the one thing that worries him about him, and why he came down hard on him following the Nathan Sharpe headbutt.
SA Rugby magazine also asks Etzebeth about his rookie season, the Botha comparison, the Sharpe headbutt, his Test preparations and his toughest opponent.
Also in the new issue:
– Pat Lambie insists he has not been frustrated during his time with the Springboks this year and is happy to play flyhalf or fullback
– The Springbok goal-kickers had failed to transfer their success on the training field to the high-pressure Test arena going into the end-of-year tour
– Central contracts: Why South Africa’s top players must be contracted to Saru and not to their provincial unions
– The Blitzboks made a promising start to the new sevens season
– Former Sharks scrumhalf Rory Kockott has let his rugby do the talking at French club Castres
– Jaque Fourie aims to resurrect his Springbok career in 2015 once he’s fulfilled his Japanese club obligations
– Former Springbok captain John Smit has a new lease on life since moving to Saracens
– Josh Strauss on his move to Glasgow, the possibility of playing for Scotland, and the Lions’ relegation from Super Rugby
– How Western Province beat the odds to win their first Currie Cup in 11 years
– How Alan Solomons revived Eastern Province rugby
– A band of rugby missionaries wants to grow rugby in Africa
Follow SA Rugby magazine on Twitter
Like SA Rugby magazine on Facebook
Got an iPad? Get SA Rugby mag’s
FREE iPad app from iTunes
217 Comments
Pages: [1] 2 3 4 5 » Show All
20 Nov 2012, 06:23 am
Mark Andrews doesn’t think he does enough apparently. That softy should be last to talk.
20 Nov 2012, 06:40 am
International Player of the Year… IMO…
20 Nov 2012, 06:51 am
Andrews and Matfield were birds of a feather. Good in the lineouts and kickoffs but hopefully farking useless everywhere else.
20 Nov 2012, 06:58 am
@W.P-3:
Did you ever watch either of them play?
It doesn’t sound like it.
20 Nov 2012, 07:42 am
Please Gunther – they were both softies. Andrews conversion to 8th man was nothing short of embarrassing. Matfield has Bakkies to thank for being able to loiter and hang gat all game long in the backline.
20 Nov 2012, 07:43 am
@W.P-3: How about that hyped up Bekker?
20 Nov 2012, 07:46 am
@W.P-5:
So that’s a no then?
20 Nov 2012, 07:49 am
Eben Etzebeth was sighted for alleged eye-gouging against the Scot’s and might not play this weekend. Not good.
20 Nov 2012, 07:49 am
@W.P-5:
Victor Matfield and John Smit were probably the most successful lineout combination in the history of the modern game.
20 Nov 2012, 07:51 am
@Stoetbul9-8:
Here’s a link. It looks accidental – Etzebeth grabs Laidlaw to try and pull him back, his left hand unfortunately on Laidlaw’s neck/chin/mouth area. It looks like Laidlaw then tries to pull his head out of this hold, and Etzebeth’s left hand momentarily slips onto Laidlaw’s eye area, as soon as Etzebeth realises this he quickly releases his left hand:
http://prem0.hiboox.com/images/4712/diapo38402bac6b331dd0754b0868b2389b89.gif
20 Nov 2012, 07:54 am
@gunther-7:
Yep exactly… Victor in his last season of test rugby (2011) was matched only by two other RSA loosies in rucks hit and tackles made… that on top of his usual work-load…
And anyone doubting Mark Andrews’ work in the tight-loose clearly did not watch him play…
Enough said.
20 Nov 2012, 07:58 am
IMO Mark Andrews was a tremendous lock….
Etsebeth has all the attributes to be the best ever….just hope this latest allegation does not start a witch hunt…..opposition will try and rile Eben , Eben needs to get a very good mentor and listen to some advice…..
20 Nov 2012, 08:07 am
Etsebeth in his first season has done more than Andrews ever did. Talk is cheap.
20 Nov 2012, 08:08 am
Here’s hoping the curse of the SA Rugby cover doesn’t strike again!
20 Nov 2012, 08:13 am
Why not train eben as a no.5 lock? He seems to be running the line outs in any case. Would love to see a eben and bakkies combo.
Don’t understand why one lock has to be tough and the other athletic. why cant both be tough and athletic. and lets be honest, calling line outs is not rocket science.
20 Nov 2012, 08:13 am
I’m not really getting it….Estebeth is a very good young lock….terms like “International player of the year and attributes to be the best ever”…..not seeing it…only a very good young lock still on a learning curve who when he partners up with the right locking partner will be a force in years to come.
20 Nov 2012, 08:17 am
@bryce_in_oz-11:
Insanity really.
The guy has huge potential but, after only a year in test rugby, that’s all he has.
Guys like Matfield and Andrews have walked the walk on the worlds biggest stage.
This WP feller sounds like a fanboy.
20 Nov 2012, 08:29 am
I am a fanboy and will be the first to admit that he has a lot to learn still.
Now on to the citing commissioner who happens to be English, who has a very real interest in Eben not playing this Saturday. Disgraceful. A 1 week ban is all it will take to get him out of the mix for the game.
They should call up Bakkies as his replacement. See how quickly they drop the charges……
20 Nov 2012, 08:30 am
Total stitch up.
20 Nov 2012, 08:30 am
@stormersboy-18:
Ha ha
That would be interesting
20 Nov 2012, 08:32 am
@stormersboy-18:
Yes you are.
Agreed on Bakkies.
20 Nov 2012, 08:35 am
@stormersboy-18: That is exactly what Meyer would do in any event.
20 Nov 2012, 08:36 am
I’m no “fanboy” like you put it Gunther. Etsebeth has exceeded everybody’s expectation this season. Its his first season in international rugby – the kids done more than enough and is probably indispensable now – for Andrews to be saying he ain’t doing enough is laughable. I would play Eben at 5 and Alberts at 4. That would free up Coertzee to play 7 and then we can get rid of Juandre Kruger.
20 Nov 2012, 08:41 am
@W.P-23:
Ahhhaa.
So your issue is really what Andrews said about him.
I understand now.
I agree Alberts should be played at lock.
20 Nov 2012, 08:43 am
@W.P-1: “That softy should be last to talk.”… Mark Andrews… a softy?
The same Andrews who was playing as a forward in France, in the early 1990′s before his 21st birthday… This is not the French rugby of nowadays where chaps have a nice little retirement jaunt… This was rugby where French locks like Cecillon were full blooded psycho murderers and refs cars were regularly pushed into ravines… This is where Mark Andrews learned his trade…
Andrews a Softy…?
BWAAAAAAAAAAAAHAAAAAAAHAAAAA….
20 Nov 2012, 08:44 am
@Te Rangatira-16:
Same.
We get blasted if we say McCaw is the best but a South African thats in his first year that has been banned already for foul play and looks to be cited again, i dont get it either.
No one is doubting that he has the goods to be a classy player….but hell, far from international player of the year.
20 Nov 2012, 08:44 am
@gunther-17:
Indeed. Etzebeth had a great first international season but Matfield and Andrews have had great career spanning over a number of years.
Look at Hougaard. He was brillant last season and the season before but recently things have gone all pear shaped.
20 Nov 2012, 08:48 am
Guys look to take everything out of context.
Andrews said Etzebeth is a tremendous talent. His worry was that the current game plan precluded Etzebeth from playing the game he should be playing. That he should rather be hitting rucks as opposed to being a ball carrier.
“He has an incredible talent. The maturity he has been showing in the lineouts has been fantastic and he has a huge amount of confidence in carrying the ball up.
“However, I think that he may be set up by the media, the public and maybe the coaches for a fall later in his career if not sooner in the sense of that he isn’t really doing the job that he should be doing.
“Every single effective pack in world rugby – from international down to club rugby – has one of the second rows who has the ability to bring a physical presence to the game and normally that comes down to ruck time. What’s lacking with the Springboks at the moment is we have quite a few players who think they are ball carriers and Etzebeth has been put in that position at Western Province where he has to be a ball carrier.
“However, I think at the Springboks the situation should be different. It worries me that someone like Willem Alberts is hitting more rucks than anyone else in the team, when he is one of our most effective ball carriers.
“Now we have a guy like Etzebeth standing out a lot of the time waiting to carry the ball up and it has happened a few times already when he’s lost the ball when he’s close to the tryline. I think his role should be to hit rucks and the Springboks need someone like him to own the breakdown. The All Blacks have always believed in owning the breakdown, but at the moment – and I have probably watched him more than most because it’s a position I played in – I don’t see him hitting rucks,” Andrews, who played 77 Tests for the Springboks between 1994 and 2001, said.
20 Nov 2012, 08:52 am
@Hurricane-26:
Dry your eyes Shirley Temple.
It’s not always about you.
20 Nov 2012, 08:52 am
@Kietzphat-28:
He has been there, done that and got plenty of jerseys, so nothing wrong in what he said.
It’s refreshing to get honest opinions is today’s world of interviews where everyone is afraid to tell it like it is for fear of offending someone.
20 Nov 2012, 08:55 am
@Jeraldjay-27:
Hougaard is a shadow of the player he has been for the last 2 seasons.
20 Nov 2012, 08:55 am
Must say I have been impressed with Etzebeth and not with Kruger, but the solution is not Alberts at lock.
If Etzebeth turns out to be a nr 5 lock then I will rather look at Bakkies, Rossouw or Bresler to play alongside Etzebeth.
20 Nov 2012, 08:55 am
@gunther-29:
oohhh whats wrong, is the bad kiwi speaking his mind and gunnnywunfer angwy?
20 Nov 2012, 08:57 am
We also have some excellent locks coming through our junior structures.
20 Nov 2012, 08:58 am
HG Mark Andrews was a lineout jumper period. He was good at it but aggressive he was not. Take off your blinkers
20 Nov 2012, 08:58 am
@nortierd-30:
My sentiments exactly.
Andrews acknowledges this guy’s tremendous potential, but also says he has a long way to go before he hits his ceiling.
20 Nov 2012, 09:03 am
@W.P-35: Your name says it all. You probably think Boome and Hottie Louw were better.
20 Nov 2012, 09:06 am
@W.P-5:
Way to take something completely out of context.
Andrews wasnt saying he is too soft you imbecile. He saying that he’s being coached incorrectly at Province and Bok level.
Being used too much as a ball runner when he should be hitting rucks all day. Pretty insightful if you see the Boks inability to get clean ball of late.
And Andrews was one of the hardest men out there. And the embarrasing move to 8? In the WC 1995 final you mean? The one where we beat the ABs you mean?
You are a clown.
20 Nov 2012, 09:07 am
Ja, Andrews wasn’t the tough guy. That was Steve Atherton. Andrews liked to receive cross kicks way over by the grand stand.
20 Nov 2012, 09:08 am
@W.P-35: Chrissakes… You’re a waste of time, man…
20 Nov 2012, 09:09 am
@katman-39:
And spend time crawling around on the grass looking for his contact lens…
20 Nov 2012, 09:14 am
I actually wouldn’t mind seeing the locks from that era – Wiese, Andrews, Hannes Strydom, Atherton against the “Worlds best pairing” Matfield, Botha and the new boy on the block, Etsebeth with the potential to become “the best ever”…
Would be an interesting dust up… Locks from the 90′s were workers – no glory boy superstardom for them… They were hard men in a hard era of rugby.
20 Nov 2012, 09:15 am
@WP-Forever-41: Ah, I remember that now. Each game had at least two incidents of Andrews doing his drunk pub evictee impression.
20 Nov 2012, 09:15 am
Rudi Visagie and Louis Moolman.
20 Nov 2012, 09:16 am
@WP-Forever-10: Thanks WP,i haven’t been able to find this.Its obviously an English set up.His does not make any attempt at the eyes or even anything other than holding him around the mouth.Its all a crock!
20 Nov 2012, 09:19 am
@Hurricane-33:
I’m sure there is a Ritchie tribute thread somewhere for you to pollute with your baby talk.
20 Nov 2012, 09:22 am
@katman-43:
Ha ha ha. Makes me think of the 1974 Lions Tour.
In the third Test, SA had a giant lock in Johan de Bruyn, who had a glass eye…Gordon Brown punched him in the face, whereupon the glass eye flew from de Bruyn’s socket and sank into the mud…Willie John McBride then told Brown “hit the f*cker in his good eye!”…the players all look for de Bruyn’s glass eye, eventually someone finds it, de Bruyn sticks it back in and there’s a huge dod of grass sticking out of his eyeball…
20 Nov 2012, 09:22 am
I remember back in Andrews era if he was injured we were pretty much farked…..class lineout forward and did his share of the grunt work…..brilliant player, no doubt.
20 Nov 2012, 09:22 am
Andrews was an athletic lock in the beginning of his career and a hard man as we got older. became a bot of a cheap shot artist towards the end.
But I wouldn’t call him soft.
The comments about Etsebeth are confusing as he hot the 3rd most rucks in the Ireland game and made the 2nd most tackles (after Flo). Missed 0. he only carried the ball 5 times.
If Eben isn’t pulling his weight then the rest of them are really lazy.
20 Nov 2012, 09:23 am
Sorry spelling
Pages: [1] 2 3 4 5 » Show All
Have your say
You must be logged in to post a comment.