Former Springbok and Sharks lock Mark Andrews is worried about current Bok second rower Eben Etzebeth’s commitment at the breakdown area.
Sport24
While acknowledging that Etzebeth has performed well this season, Andrews feels the 21-year-old isn’t ticking all the boxes a second row forward at the highest level should.
“I would have loved to see Eben Etzebeth play with someone like Bakkies Botha or Victor Matfield,” Andrews told Sports Illustrated Radio on Wednesday.
“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.
The former Sharks enforcer feels Etzebeth has the ability to become world class but needs someone to tell him what is lacking.
“He got away with it in the Currie Cup and in Super Rugby where a very physical Stormers pack has allowed him to play a looser game, but at the Springboks it is going to be critical going forward to have a guy like Etzebeth, who ticks all the boxes, to hit the rucks. He actually runs away from breakdowns instead of running towards them.”
Etzebeth, who won the SARU Young Player of the Year award, will pack down alongside Juandré Kruger when the Boks face Scotland at Murrayfield on Saturday.
@ Sharks_forever:
Daai is niks, check ‘Saudi drivers’ on YouTube….dis waarvan ek en Puma praat!
28 @ Pietman:
Hahaha. Good man, keep it up Piet! You need it there. I became quite a expert myself in the homebrew there.. 🙂
31 @ Pietman:
Daai ouens het heeltemal te veel sand gesnuif in hulle dae… eishhhh
34 @ Sharks_forever:
hahaha. You see what Piet and I am talking about? Was just looking at a few video clips now myself. Crazy drivers over there I tell you. And there is ALWAYS no matter what time of day a massive traffic jam and every driver in every car just sits on his hooter, drove me mad of there….LOL. Good luck to Piet…….. 🙂 🙂
Ek dink hulle snuiwe so bietjie Vim ook…..
@ Sharks_forever:
That’s Ring Rd!
Just what Puma and I were talking about…..it runs all along the outer city suburbs, almost like the N2 in the Cape from Gordons Bay to De Waal Drive and city centre.
37 @ Pietman:
Hulle sal mens dryf na drank en harems…. hahaha
Ek sal so flokker darem hard moer as hy so flokken afshow voor my… en hom poer in sy moer in n trok in vas stamp!
Klink my hulle is nog maller as die selfmoordbomfokkers wat tussen hulle grootword.
Kry hulle ook 72 virgins as hulle so bestuur?
Is daar nie Spietkops in Saudi nie?
Looks like cars and tyres are dirt cheap in Saudi.
@ Pietman:
it’s very simular to khartoum
@ grootblousmile:
Daai nog niks, dis naby die universiteit waar die jaery in die video afspeel, studente met Toyotas en Kias en so…….jy moet die middestad sien waar die miljoeners met hulle speelgoed uithang broer….dis net rook en tyers, MustangsGT’s, Corvettes, Porches, Lambo’s… Hulle voel niks vir n kar nie, die goed is goedkoop hier.
Jislaaik Marl better wear a disguise when he comes to the Cape.
Papa wag vir jou…….
And By Papa, I mean the actual Papa. With his brothers, Oom Cliffie en kie.
Well on a serious note, does he think that Jandre is doing a proper job? Just curious.
The lad just turned 21, I’d be expecting that he still has some stuff to learn, but man what potential.
Having met the man I cannot describe the physical impression he makes, and I have met many of them. Bakkies, Andries, Hottie. No one quite like it.
@ Stormersboy:
Eben will be an all time great…..here’s hoping he stays injury free.
44 @ Stormersboy:
LOL. 
Don’t think Jandre Kruger is doing a proper job either…..LOL. Eben is a brilliant player and who knows it could be the way he is told to play. Seems so as he does a similar thing for Stormers. Mark needs to send some instructions to Meyer!
Serious though could you imagine Eben with Bakkies together? Lethal!
@ Pietman:
That will be the key. WP will overplay him next year sadly. It really worries me as AC’s man management (player game time wise) is terrible.
Saudi’s worst accident
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=5Oh0EX6hKSw&feature=endscreen
@ Puma:
Yes quite a thought. Juandre (who grew up and went to school literally down the road from me) hasn’t been crap, but he hasn’t been great either.
@ Stormersboy:
@47
Yip, a worry that.
EE should be nursed and managed like a Durban July champion race horse.
@ Pietman:
He should do the same with Bekker too. 60 minutes a game tops. If they stay together they will be a world leading pair. @ Pietman:
Ek will vir jou n epos stuur, het jy n RT epos?
@ Sharks_forever:
A daily occurence….some bliksem slammed into me at 140 km/h yesterday, from behind, bending my rear fender slightly ….I was in the fast lane and going to slow for his liking. So he started pushing me along…..
@ Stormersboy:
Nee, ek glo nie, kannie onthou nie!
Kry my wpstormer addie by GBS, asb.
@ Pietman:
😆 flokken ARABIERE IS MAL
@ Sharks_forever:
Is waar, vrou se dit elke dag!
Jong outjies is gefrustreerd….geen sport, geen drank, geen klubs, geen meisies,,,,te veel geld…..nou mors hulle op die snelweg rond.
Jy moet hulle sien as hulle aaptwak gerook het, volop hier!
49 @ Stormersboy:
Agree Kruger has not been that great. Eben is one of our best lock talents in a long time. I think Mark is right, though I think it is how they are told to play. Still think we are missing something not having Eben and Bakkies together. OR Meyer could be waiting for PSDT. As I read this year he had spoken to PSDT. He rates him highly. So need to see next year how PSDT goes at the Sharks. If Plum plays him at flank I will be the moer in…hehehe. He has to play at lock, especially with us struggling with our lineouts. So yeah, a lock pairing of PSDT and Eben would be awesome as well. Just that Bakkies has the experience.
If you want Rugby-Talk E-Mail addresses, all you have to do is ask… and ye shall receive
@ Pietman:
Ek het vir Rudi ‘n epos gestuur, en gevra dat hy dit aanstuur.
@ grootblousmile:
Ek het vir jou gestuur.
@ Stormersboy:
Saak is reg, ek wag…
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