'It was probably a good thing': Redemption opportunity arrives for Ethan de Groot

While Ethan de Groot was a controversial omission from the first All Blacks squad of the year, it hasn’t taken long for the young prop to earn a shot at redemption.

The All Blacks named three loosehead props for their July series with Ireland: George Bower, Aidan Ross and the soon-to-be-departing Karl Tu’inukuafe.

There were certainly a few eyebrows raised at the selections, given the latter was destined for France at the end of the year. At the time, head coach Ian Foster justified the decision to include Tu’inukuafe by citing Ireland’s and South Africa’s formidable scrums. He also noted that De Groot – who made his Test debut last year – had been given some work-ons he needed to address.

“When it came to looseheads, we’ve been really impressed with George Bower, we believe that Aidan Ross has gone up a couple of cogs again at scrum time, and we know that Karl is our number one loosehead scrummager,” Foster said. “So, in that particular aspect, he will bring experience to those other two.

“With Ethan, we think he can get fitter, we think there is more to him, getting up off the ground and getting involved. We’ve got a really high regard for him and we’ll put a plan in place to give him an opportunity to come back.”

Tu’inukuafe played just 28 minutes in July, however, and when the All Blacks squad was named for the Rugby Championship, his place had been taken by De Groot.

Now, the 22-year-old will run out for just his sixth Test cap – and his first start against top opposition – when he dons the No 1 jersey against the Springboks at Ellis Park on Saturday. It’s a remarkable rise for the youngster, one that De Groot didn’t think was possible when he was first left out of the All Blacks squad for July.

“I’m excited. It’s going to be a hell of a challenge,” De Groot said on Thursday. “If you told me five weeks ago when I was strapping up down in Oreti Park down in Southland that I’d be starting in Ellis Park, I probably would have told you to get lost but I’m super excited and grateful for the opportunity.”

While the youngster’s scrummaging ability has never been in question – he’s been one of the best at set-piece over the past two years – De Groot shed some light on where the All Blacks coaches had asked him to up his game.

“Just my work rate, getting off the ground,” he explained.

“Obviously, I was pretty gutted at the start when I didn’t make the first series but looking back, it was probably a good thing. I did need to go put in some work. From there, it was just going away and doing a bit of training on my own.”

Experienced All Blacks hooker Codie Taylor, who will enter the fray from the bench on Saturday evening, gave some indication of what De Groot will have to contend with at the hostile South African fortress that is Ellis Park.

“I’d say the first two minutes will be absolutely heaving because of the altitude and just the arena itself,” Taylor said. “It’s an intense place to play but it’s also the best place to play in the world. You don’t get much better.

“There’s some awesome history at Ellis Park and I definitely have fond memories of running around in the black jersey there. That work getting off the ground’s going to pay dividends, I think.”

De Groot will partner another relatively inexperienced prop in the form of 26-year-old tighthead Tyrel Lomax while George Bower and the uncapped Fletcher Newell will take over from the reserves.

Having been well and truly bested by 16 points at Mbombela the previous weekend, the All Blacks will be looking to bounce back this Saturday with a strong performance. The match is due to kick off at 5:05pm SAST.