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'I've read somewhere that I can curl 80kg; I'm not sure anyone alive can do that. But the truth is...'' - Etzebeth

Eben Etzebeth (Photo by REMY GABALDA/AFP via Getty Images)

There is a great Eben Etzebeth fable, enshrined in rugby legend, that feeds the narrative of physical freakery and rampant aggression inexorably attached to the giant lock.

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The story goes that as a pup at the Stormers, the franchise didn’t have dumbbells heavy enough to tax him. Their largest set of weights was simply too light. Like fishermen boasting about the record-breaking carp they coulda-woulda-shoulda landed, the internet is awash with tales of the insane volume of tin that Etzebeth supposedly throws around.

“I’ve read somewhere that I can curl 80kg; I’m not sure anyone alive can do that,” he told RugbyPass. “But the truth is, back in 2012 I was starting out with the Stormers in pre-season and me and Steven Kitshoff – another really strong guy in the gym – were doing bench presses with dumbbells.

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Le French Rugby Podcast – Ep 2

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Le French Rugby Podcast – Ep 2

“The biggest dumbbells the Stormers had were 65kg. We were repping 65kg and we thought, let’s try something different, so we went to the physio room, took two 5kg plates and strapped one on each side. The conditioner saw that and ordered us in the 70kgs and 75kgs. Since then, I’ve had shoulder injuries and ACL damage, so I definitely can’t lift that anymore.”

So, the legend has frightening basis in fact. A mere 75kg – that’s almost equivalent to hoisting a Conor McGregor in each arm. The comical size difference between the monstrous Springbok and the deadly UFC fighter was illustrated recently when the pair met, dined and posed for a photograph on the gorgeous French island of Corsica.

 

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What a privilege to meet @thenotoriousmma and having a Sunday braai! #legend #notyouraveragesunday

A post shared by Eben Etzebeth (@ebenetzebeth4) on

Etzebeth was invited to spend a weekend holidaying on the archipelago by Princess Charlene of Monaco, who was raised in South Africa. He chatted to McGregor and picked the Irishman’s brains. Life at Toulon, where he has signed a new four-year deal just nine months into his first contract, certainly has its perks.

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“We had lunch, a barbecue, it was just nice to meet him, speak to him, hear what he is about and what his plans are,” said Etzebeth.

“When I met him, he was really down to earth, a family guy. It was just like you were chatting to one of your friends. You could see at any time, he was always looking where his wife and kids were. It was really nice to see.”

At the moment, the hulking second-row is recovering from a rib injury sustained in Toulon’s Top 14 opener against La Rochelle, damage that should heal in time for the Springboks’ Rugby Championship campaign.

His days on the Cote d’Azur, although heavily disrupted by Covid-19, have been exhilarating. After the briefest of spells at Toulon, Etzebeth was moved to pledge his long-term future to the club this summer, an indication of how he is revelling in his new surrounds.

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But it was a conversation with Bakkies Botha, his forebear as the great enforcer of the Boks pack and a trophy-laden juggernaut at the French side, that compelled him to look overseas.

Etzebeth incident
Eben Etzebeth gets up close with fans in Toulon

“I had been at the Stormers for eight years and I just thought it was time to move on,” said Etzebeth. “I remember back in 2014, me and Marcell Coetzee and Bakkies went for a coffee in Ireland and he told us, ‘look, if I knew what I know now, I would have gone earlier’. A lot of guys who have come this side say the same thing. I didn’t want to wait for another four or five years, come when I’m over 30, and regret not coming earlier. I initially signed for two years, but I decided to stay longer.

“It’s quite similar to the way we played with the Springboks the past few seasons. We like to scrum and maul and use the forwards, the same game plan we have with the Springboks. It is a bit slower than Super Rugby, but the physicality makes up for that. It’s just nice to experience something different, new styles of play, and I didn’t have to change too much because they’re also quite forward-dominated here in Toulon.”

Etzebeth had long been earmarked as the heir to Botha’s iron throne with his snarl, refusal to be cowed and his constant berth at the epicentre of any on-field skirmishes that might require a 6ft 8ins lock to resolve with a handful of jersey and a strong word.

He has a reputation for the belligerent, but chiefly, he is a terrific rugby player, an imperious line-out operator with ballast and speed on open prairie. At 28, though, he cringes a little when he watches clips of his younger self rag-dolling opponents and taking on all comers.

Etzebeth
Eben Etzebeth has his top torn in a scuffle

“I like to break it up – I don’t like to fight!” he laughed. “It’s probably not something you go out looking for, you just do what’s in the moment. Discipline comes into it a lot so you don’t want to cost your team a penalty or a yellow card. It always starts with aggression but you must always think with a clear head and not show any stupid aggression.

“I’ve had a lot of downtime during lockdown and I watch rugby videos on YouTube and the things they put together with me, you probably won’t get away with any of it now.”

Back in South Africa, debate rages over the future for the Boks and the national franchises. These feel like seminal days for a colossal rugby nation. Is it better to push for a revised Super Rugby format and stick with Rugby Championship, launch a souped-up Currie Cup or flit north to join the European leagues and Six Nations?

Etzebeth says South Africans frequently underestimate the calibre of northern hemisphere rugby and the fervour of its supporters.

“Definitely there is a misperception, it would be nice if they can do something like a Club World Cup, the three or four best teams of each country playing each other to see who is the best,” he said.

Eben Etzebeth
Eben Etzebeth at the Stormers (Photo by Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images)

“One thing that surprised me when I got here is the support from the fans. In France, almost every game before the lockdown, home or away, the stadium was packed. If you look at Super Rugby, crowd attendances really went down the past few years. You always think South Africa and New Zealand are massive on support and rugby is really big, but you come to France, and every week there’s a packed stadium. That was surprising to me.”

Amid the joy, there is personal turmoil to confront. In the lead-up to South Africa’s transformative World Cup win, Etzebeth was accused of racial abuse and assault with a firearm outside a bar in the idyllic coastal resort of Langebaan. He has been cleared of any wrongdoing by an internal SA Rugby investigation, chaired by a former judge, but may yet have a case to answer in the national Equality Court. Etzebeth vehemently maintains his innocence and while he will not discuss the allegations with legal matters pending, intends to give his full and frank account at some point in the future.

On the field, the challenge now is for the world champions to raise the bar again, to embrace being the hunted rather than the hunter and renew their thirst for success. There can be no resting on laurels, particularly against a wounded and smarting New Zealand and, coronavirus notwithstanding, the cream of Britain and Ireland in less than a year.

“I know rugby is a team sport, but it is probably going to start with each individual who was involved in that victory,” said Etzebeth. “As an individual, you are going to have to make the mind shift to not just be satisfied with a World Cup victory but keep on improving, keep on playing to the best of your ability.

“I am motivated to start playing again, to keep on improving. I know it’s hard to keep on improving on a World Cup win, but there is a Lions series and another World Cup coming, there are always things to be working towards.”

The sagging dumbbell rack might have a little less weight on it these days, but the fire for new glory burns as bright as ever.

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J
JW 1 hour ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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