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Inspirational Etzebeth rewarded by Coetzee ahead of European tour

Eben Etzebeth will continue to captain South Africa after Warren Whiteley was ruled out of the upcoming upcoming tour of the Northern Hemisphere.

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Etzebeth took over as skipper when Whiteley sustained a groin injury during the Test series victory over France in June.

Whiteley was expected to be fit to travel to Europe, but the number eight will not be ready in time for the Tests against Ireland, France, Italy and Wales in November and December.

Etzebeth has been an inspiration since being installed as stand-in captain and the towering lock will continue to lead his country out.

Springboks head coach Allister Coetzee said: “Eben has really taken to his role as captain of the Springboks and it makes sense to retain him. I know he is well respected by talking to opposition coaches and referees, and he enjoys the respect of his peers.

“With Eben at the helm for the Castle Lager Outgoing Tour, we are looking forward to continue our process of building continuity, cohesion and experience within this team as we also start to build towards the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan.”

Prop Coenie Oosthuizen (fractured arm) and loose forward Uzair Cassiem (rib) will be available to tour, but number eight Duane Vermeulen will not be in the squad after undergoing a groin operation.

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Flanker Jaco Kriel (shoulder) and Frans Malherbe (neck) are also unavailable.

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J
JW 23 minutes ago
Half-back depth is the flaw in 'Razor's' 4-4-4 Rugby World Cup plan

Well there’s a couple of distinctions here that are important aren’t there?


First though like I replied to Tk where does it say theres need to test vets, or proven reliable players? It is simply ‘test quality’.


Now, I have created a list that I think is test quality, so all weve got to do is upskill the missing pieces right? No. Razor might not mean to have given every player half a dozen matchs but he will want to have identified and assured himself that each individual is indeed test quality. So yes, plays like Darry and Lord may still be included in a few squads and used so he’s happy to include them as say 5th and 6th ranked locks, but that doesn’t mean he needs to go to the same level to ensure for himself the 7th and 8th ranked locks.


He might be happy basing performances off SR Finals, or organizing an AB XV match against a team like France or SA with similar locking depth (even organizing say Warner Dearns to be part of the Japan XV etc), and I’m sure they’re going to have a very large squad over in South Africa for two months.


I don’t think he is quite in the same predicament as SA to have to rest top stars. And this is obviously just goal setting, they’re supposed to be hard. As you can see by the context around this series, arbitrary targets like everyone getting some minutes are made. That could also simply be how he ensures he has met the 4. So hookers would be ticked, as he’s already used 5 at test level. If you looked at the Baabaas SA game you’d see Beehre performing like an accomplished test player, that already makes 7 locks with more than 2 full seasons to go. You take the point BA was making about Marshalls previous remarks about Razor want players to be able to play 3/4/5 different positions, that would mean if Razor was really happy with Finau at lock last week he already has 8 test quality locks as well, etc, etc.


TLDR sorry for the big reply, it’s just a goal, the teams not going to suddenly fail if he doesn’t reach it, I think theres many means and many players for him to be comfortable in getting 4 in each position. He’s obviously not going to be able to get 4 proven, hardened test players in each by then, no.

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