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'Looking good': Esterhuizen on Springboks recall and Owen Farrell

Andre Esterhuizen cops a much-debated 2018 tackle from Owen Farrell (Photo by Adam Davy/PA Images via Getty Images)

Harlequins midfielder Andre Esterhuizen has spoken about his chances of a Springboks recall this month and about this weekend’s appetising prospect of getting to run at Owen Farrell for the first time since being on the receiving end of that infamous tackle from the England player in November 2018.

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The 28-year-old South African powerhouse won the last of his eight Test caps in August 2019, missing out on World Cup finals selection, but he is now back on the Springboks radar and tipped for a recall for the upcoming three-Test series versus Wales next month.

Asked during an appearance on this week’s The Rugby Pod about his Springboks situation, Esterhuizen commented: “Obviously, we are chatting at the moment to see how things go.

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“They will only announce the squad once South African teams fall out of the URC. Two teams are in the semi-final this weekend so we will see what happens but there is a lot of chat at the moment. I can’t say too much but it’s looking good.”

Switching to this Saturday’s Gallagher Premiership semi-final which will see defending champions Harlequins put their title on the line at Saracens, Esterhuizen referenced the fierce rivalry between both clubs and the prospect of him playing against Farrell for the first time in four years since that X-rated no arms wrapped tackle was deemed legal at Twickenham.

Farrell nailed Esterhuizen with a huge tackle in the final minutes of that England win and referee Angus Gardner deemed the hotly debated challenge as fair. “It’s actually the first time we have played against each other again since that game,” said Esterhuizen. “It’s a normal question, I actually run at every ten every weekend so if he is playing ten I am probably going to run at him. We’ll see what happens.

“Yeah, it’s spoken about every game we play them,” he added about the Quins-Sarries rivalry. “I understand 100 per cent the hatred between the two clubs. It’s a very emotional game for both sides. It is going to be a big one and I’m looking forward to it a lot.”

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1 Comment
B
Belson 899 days ago

“ Farrell nailed Esterhuizen with a huge tackle”. What absolute GARBAGE!! The very definition of FAKE NEWS. He did no such thing! He launched an illegal shoulder charge into the face of Esterhuizen and the corrupt officials chose to look the other way, just like they always do when the victim is South African.

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JW 43 minutes ago
Let's be real about these All Blacks

I didn't really get the should tone from it, but maybe because I was just reading it as my own thoughts.


What I read it as was examples of how they played well enough in every game to be able to win it.


Yeah I dunno if Ben wouldn't see it that way (someone else would for sure need to point it out to him though), I'm more in the Ben not appreciating that those close losses werent one off scenarios camp. Sure you can look at dubious decisions causing them to have to play with 14 or 13 men at the death as viable reasons but even in the games they won without such difficulties they made a real struggle of it (compared to how good some of their first half play was). This kind of article where you trying to point out the 3 losses really would most likely have been wins only really makes sense/works when your other performances make those 3 games (or endings) stand out.


There might have been a sentence here and there to ensure some good comment numbers but when he's signing off the article by saying things like ..

Whilst these All Blacks aren’t blowing teams off the park like during the 2010s, they are nuggety and resourceful and don’t wilt. They are prepared to win the hard way, accumulating points by any means necessary.

and..

The other top sides in the world struggled to put them away. France and South Africa both could have well been defeated on home soil.

I don't really see it. Always making sure people are upto date with the SH standing/perspective! NZ went through some tough times with so many different perspectives and reasons why, but then it was.. amusing how.. behind everyone was once they turned a corner. More of these 'unfortunate' results returned against SA and France at the start of the RWC which made it extra tasty to catch other teams out when they did bring it. So that created some 'conscious' perspective that I just kept going and sharing re thoughts on similar predicaments of other teams, I had been really confident that Wallabies displays vs NZ were real, that the Argentines can backup their thing against Aus and SA (and so obviously the rest), and current one is that England are actually consistent and improving with their attack (which everyone should get onboard with), and I'm expecting a more dominant display against Japan (even though they should have more of their experienced internationals for this one) that highlights further growth from July. 👍

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