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.
58 @ Stormersboy:
Ek het nog flokkol gekry nie, pappa!
59 @ Stormersboy:
Slakkepos?
@ grootblousmile:LOL My Crapberry will give up the ghost if I add any more! 🙂
@ Puma:
I rate PSDT (being one of ours originally lol) and have actually enjoyed watching him play at 7, but lets see how he goes, he had a great run towards the end of the season.
A fit and on form Andries Bekker is still the guy to beat, but that fit part is a big “if” ……
63 @ Stormersboy:
Jy’t vergeet om ‘n posseël op te plak….
@ grootblousmile:
gebounce. Wat is dit weer??
Jammer ek het dit gehaad maar ek het ‘n ander rekenaar.
webmaster@rugby-talk.com
@ grootblousmile:
Op pad
67 @ Stormersboy:
Gekry, dankie… Pieta… hy’s op pad.
63 @ Stormersboy:
Bekker was at his best in 2010 well think. Other than that he has not been great, mostly injured these days. PSDT is young like Eben, think he was only 19 when he played JWC this year, also Sharks used him at the end of their SR at lock. He will gonna be very good there. He was excellent as well for jwc where he played flank. Though think we will use him at lock, well hope so as he played flank for the u21s. He might have been from the Cape but he is with the Sharks now… lol. Looking forward to seeing what he can do in next years SR. I am almost sure he will be a Bok. He has just too much class not too. He does remind me of Juan Smith a lot at blindside flank. Though I think his best position will be lock. Plum must play him there. We have enough to cover with our loose trio. Alberts, Keegan, Deysel, Coetzee and Kanko.
@ grootblousmile:
Reg so, dankie.
Okay I am out of here.
Now if Boots is as boring as it was last week this will be the last time I watch it. Boots a few years back used to be great, now hardly worth watching.
Cheers everyone. Catch up tomorrow.
@ Puma:
he’s just getting his eye in with you guys, he’ll be back soon. Don’t get too attached to him
@ Stormersboy:r dae in sy jonge
Nice pics, thx!
Flippit, maar daai Eben is moosa groot!
Ryan lyk soos oom Cliffie in sy jong dae….
Rudi, lyk my myne is die enigste korrektre een lol
SOUTH AFRICA
Etzebeth being ‘set up for a fall’
Thu, 15 Nov 2012 13:17
His role should be to hit rucks
World Cup-winning Springbok lock Mark Andrews believes Eben Etzebeth is being set up for disappointment by the South African coaching staff.
Andrews, a member of the Springbok team who won the Webb Ellis Cup on home soil in 1995, feels coach Heyneke Meyer and forwards coach Johann van Graan are not fully utilising the strengths of the Test rookie.
Speaking on SI Radio on Wednesday, Andrews said Etzebeth is being used as a ball-carrier in the national set-up, which is resulting in him neglecting his primary rucking responsibilities.
The 77-Test cap veteran said that while his role as ball-carrier can be understood at provincial level, the luxury afforded to national coaches – in strong runners such as Willem Alberts, Duane Vermeulen and Adriaan Strauss – should see a shift in focus as far as Etzebeth’s role in the Springbok composition is concerned.
“I would have loved to see Eben Etzebeth play with someone like Bakkies Botha or Victor Matfield,” said Andrews.
“He has an incredible talent. The maturity he has been showing in the line-outs 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 try-line. 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 added that Etzebeth is partly to blame and encouraged the SARU Young Player of the Year to improve his workrate at the rucks.
“He has all the ingredients to be a world-class player and be the anchor of the Springbok pack for years to come, but right now in the early stage of his career we need somebody to pull him aside and say ‘you have some key parts in your game that is expected of you and one of them is hitting rucks and you haven’t been doing it all season’.
“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.
“I think if somebody works with him on that and point it out as an opportunity to improve his game, he will become a world-class second row.”
Touching on Etzebeth’s current lock partner, Juandre Kruger, Andrews said: “You can’t fault his game. I just don’t think – and it’s a hard thing to say and it’s a hard thing for a player to hear and I hope I get proven wrong – but I don’t think he will be a world-class player.
“He just doesn’t have the size and enough of those world-class attributes in his game but he’s a good, solid player. He’ll give you 100 percent for 80 minutes.”
Andrews noted Stormers second row Andries Bekker, who was ruled out of the end-of-year tour due to a toe injury, as a special talent.
“He is a world-class player. The height he is, he can dominate line-outs, he can tackle, he can carry the ball. He has enough ticks as I call it to make him a world-class player,” said Andrews.
“He started his career where I ended it – out on the wing,” Andrews quipped. “But he developed his game, he became very physical and abrasive in his style.
“As he picked up a couple of injuries he’s been shying way from the physical side again but hopefully he’ll sort himself out physically and get back into a mould in the Bok side.”
Source: Sportsillustrated.co.za/si-radio
1
74 @ Sharks_forever:
Huh?
Puma wrote:
nou wie de hel is die ou???
@ grootblousmile:
Die epos setup
@ Pietman:
Ja he is a seriously strongly built guy, a little shorter but not short by any means, would make a great 8th man!
78 @ Sharks_forever:
No, there’s a lot of them out there now… and they all seem to be fine with them… looks like it was easy to set up for them too
Sharks_forever wrote:
at last i can speak out, Mark , i believe what you say. Wake up sonny Etsebeth, luister na die oom, moet om hemelsnaan nie vir Langbek copy nie, praat met oom Bakkies eerder.
Dink net Bakkies en Mark saam, fearsome…
@ superBul<
Oorle Piet Spiere se kleinseun van Riebeeck Wes.
@ Pietman:
Sorry, bolts, wetie hoekom nie.
82 @ Pietman:
Ek wag vir jou oor die Mail
81 @ superBul:
Stuur vir my bietjie ‘n Toets mail van jou nuwe addie af…
@ grootblousmile:
Geantwoord…laaaankal! Gevra ja, asseblief, gee my ook.
86 @ Pietman:
Ek het jou WEER teruggemail… kyk gou
@ superBul:
Heynecke needs to coach him to play that way if they want him to do that for the Boks, the Stormers commit the minimum amount of players to the rucks and load the midfield with mobile forwards like Bekker and Etsebeth, ready for the next phase. It’s one of the reasons that they are so static on attack, the ball passes through too many forwards. It makes them great on defense though.
If you notice the Stormers games guys like Kitshoff, Liebenberg and Harris do a huge amount of tight work, the stats show them to be the most accurate front row in that regard (Tackles made vs missed, rucks hit).
All part of the stormers pattern of play, for better or worse, but I’m sure that Eben is listening to those around him. He knows the opportunity he has I’m sure, he will want to learn as much as possible.
@ superBul:
Die outjie Super
http://www.espnscrum.com/southafrica/rugby/image/165639.html
@ Pietman:
82
dankie vir niks, ek is vrek moeg kan nie hard dink nou nie, wie is die ou in Afrifokkenkaans?
Ek was vandag amper een van die padsterfte statistieke in SA. Flippen close, het al engeltjies sien dans.
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