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.
Oopsie!
Mark must have a death wish to criticize South Africa’s favourite youngster…
… but you know what, I for one will have a good look at how many rucks Etzebeth hits this weekend… now that Mark has mentioned it, The WP and Stormers might have spoilt Etzebeth with their Centre culture amongst the locks… and maybe Langbek is not a good influence on the young impressionable Eben.
The only decent lock factory is at the Bulls anyway…. hehehe
Atlast someone says it as it is, I asked this question a number of weeks back on Voldy, need i say i got sworn at for it??????
Noone argues the fact that the kid is a predigious talent, But a lock should do his job in the tight.
I have said this so many times, supporters always hated on Smitty for example? because he wasnt a flashy Hooker like Brits, But is a hookers job there to be flashy?? or Lineouts and do the dirty work on the ground?? hit rucks hit rucks hit rucks etc .
@ grootblousmile:
😆 oh hell Mark Andres will now be Voldies no1 enimy 😆
you will now see comments like “what the fluck does Mark Andrews know” 😆
Andrew is right. I watched that game again on slow mo the whole game, never watched a whole game like that ever, parts yes but not a whole game. Just wanted to see how we went so wrong in the first half. The very thing I noticed was Eben does not hit the rucks????? He does carry the ball more. Also the reason myself and probably Sharky have been saying we would want to see Bakkies back at 4 with Eben moving to 5 lock. Go watch this particular game again and watch, Eben just about never hits the rucks, he is standing back while the others get stuck in, mostly Alberts and Alberts also is carrying the ball up plenty. No wonder he has to be subbed after 60min. We need Eben to get stuck in clearing the rucks. I personally think (have said it here many times, Bakkies and Eben together would be a lethal lock pair. Then he has to learn the lineout calls, said here too, surely he must do it as he is the player that will start every game for the Boks.
6 @ Puma:
Now-now Puma… if Eben is not even doing his job as a No 4 lock, why then do you want to move him to No 5 lock, where he’ll be even more unfamiliar…
Hahaha
4 @ Sharks_forever:
🙂
It is good advice though. Mark was one of the best ever. He knows his stuff. Should give Meyer a call……..hehehe.
87 @ grootblousmile:
Only because I would like to see Bakkies and Eben play together. Eben can play 5 lock well. The two of them together would frighten the hell out of the opposition!!
7 @ grootblousmile:
Eben and Flip would also be scary together. The only way that would happen is if Eben moves to 5 lock. He has played there before.
I wonder why we were so much better against the ABs at ruck time when we played them in Dunedin???????????? We had Flip start there. Eben has to start hitting rucks, Mark is totally correct. Nothing wrong with giving adivce. Eben is a brilliant player just playing to the game plan at Boks and Stormers/WP. Mark should give Meyer a call……….hehehehe. Give him some advice what a 4 lock should do other than carry the ball…
adivce = advice
3 @ Sharks_forever:
The reason the Bok forwards won the battle in Dunedin. Flip started there bro.
Go look how we struggled against the Argies in Mendoza at the breakdowns as well? Not only did we need a fetcher there we also needed to be hitting the rucks hard. Alberts has been doing it mostly. Andrews is spot on.
Look Eben is a brilliant player this the only part of his game he needs to work on, or it could be the game plan that he just carries it up. Have no idea. No wonder Alberts is bushed come 60min when he has to be replaced. He is hitting the rucks and carrying the ball up.
Welcome tuis Piet,
Have I said that right, hope so. Hope you had a good flight.
@ Puma:
Welkom Tuis Piet Verdriet 😆
@ Puma:
Hiyas Puma!
What a business, got back from King Khalid Airport after dropping the missus off….and by the time I arrived back home she had already phoned from the lounge at Abu Dhabi airport! The traffic in Riyadh is worse now than when you were here, you take your life into your hands everytime you enter that Ring Rd area, I tell you….the way these “camel jockeys” drive is just plain flippin crazy bru, eishhh…
13 @ Puma:
Pietman is still in amongst the “Doekkoppe”… he just took the wife to the airport this morning.
He’s coming to SA in about 3 weeks only.
14 @ Sharks_forever:
Did I get it right?…. 🙂 😆
15 @ Pietman:
Hello Sandmonster, my ou mater!
Yes, just spelling, but correct
16 @ grootblousmile:
Ag shame poor Piet still in Saudi… LOL. As long as he has enough home brew it is ok…hehe. Thought he was up in the air when we were talking about some Bok History this morning.
15 @ Pietman:
Piet,
Even when I was there the traffic back then was horrendous. They are the worst drivers in the world too. Does every single driver still blow his damn hooter all the time? Crazy over there.
@ Puma:
@13 You said it 100%!
No man, I am at home in Al-Kharj still, will follow the wife three weeks from today.
Just spoke to my friend “Sersant” in Gansbaai, to my dad in Swellendam as well….same story, rubber bullets and demonstrations, so-called farm ‘wackers’ from the E.Cape arriving in busloads all over the the blooming Boland platteland….and my wife has to drive out there tomorrow morning!
19 @ Sharks_forever:
Well it came across ok then….hehehe. I am really vrot as I said with Afrikaans. Tell you what think my Dutch is better…. hehehe.
22 @ Pietman:
Tell Pietvrou to rent a Bakkie at the Airport… she can pick up some in the back and drive some “farm wackers” to their demonstration spots near Goose Bay… hehehe
22 @ Pietman:
Hectic Piet. Ja not sure what is going on in our country. We laugh at them in Saudi, but we have our own problems here.
@ grootblousmile:
Jisja bruvva.
Briekie nog innie Kaap?
Mens sou dink die klomp haasbekke daar tussen die wingerde sal stop met hul klipgooiery noudat JdJ gekies is, maar norrefok!!!
Sersant se die skote het geklap daar in Goosebay ook, en daar is net perlemoenboere in daai distrik, nou vra ek jou, hehehehe!
26 @ Pietman:
Ja, Handbriekie is nog innie Kaap… hulle het vandag klaargemaak met daai MBA kurses van haar, so hulle het vanaand partie en dan vlieg sy more so by middagete terug hier na die beskawing toe.
@ Puma:
@20 I am ok in the homebrew department bru, using ‘turbo brewers yeast’ from Goosebay nowadays to up production!
Gooi Millies 😆
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