Eben Etzebeth

thumb|Eben Etzebeth Eben Etzebeth (born 29 October 1991) is a South African professional rugby union player who currently plays for the Sharks in the United Rugby Championship and the South Africa national team. Quotes We started to talk about what we needed to do in the second game, about how we were going to fix things. It was do or die. If we lost that game and the series, we knew that we’d never have another chance in our careers to beat the Lions So we put everything on the line in the second Test, and in the third, which was as intense as a World Cup final. It’s fair to say that we emerged with our reputations intact. I look at the guys that won the 2019 World Cup, and then the series against the Lions series. Man… I have a lot of respect for those guys It was a massive game for us, in the context of the competition and in the context of our season. It was also my first game against Saracens, which I had been looking forward to for a while. It was great to come out of that kind of battle with a win That’s when we came together as players and said, right, how do we fix this? We gained a lot of respect for each other during that period. We started to put our bodies on the line, and we started to get the results. When I came back from injury a few months ago, the club wasn’t in a great place, and there was no talk about playoffs and certainly no talk about trophies. A lot of people over here in France wrote us off I’ve learnt a lot about myself during this two-and-half-year period in France, It was tough initially, as I had to spend about eight months away from my family, who weren’t allowed to visit due to Covid restrictions. Anyone who knows me will tell you how much my family means to me. I had a lot of time to think about the future. Overall, I’d say I’m not the same person who left Cape Town back in 2019 As you gain more experience, you gain a greater appreciation for the flow of the game. You get an idea of the referees and what they’re looking for. While you play on the edge, you don’t push it too far When you’re young, you’re desperate to prove yourself and savour every moment in that Springbok jersey. As you get older, you start to wonder when the journey will end. You go out there and give it everything you have. I’m a South African through and through, and it will always be my home. The Sharks have impressed me with the way they have gone about things on and off the field, so it wasn’t a hard decision to sign with them. I’ve been speaking to guys like Siya, Bongi Mbonambi and Thomas du Toit over the past few months. It seems like the Sharks have big plans for the future, in terms of the franchise and the players. There’s a plan in place to help the players realise their potential on and off the pitch It’s something that they have to address. I realise that there’s not a simple answer. They have to find a way to ensure that the Test teams and the clubs get the best out of the players, and that player welfare is taken into account. I’ve seen players reach that milestone, but I’ve also seen some great players falling short of it. You can’t just assume that you will get there France have been building steadily for the past few years, and have started to win consistently in 2022, You can see how successful their clubs have been in Europe over the past two seasons. Two French teams contested the Champions Cup final last year. Toulon will play Lyon in the Challenge Cup final next week, and La Rochelle will play Leinster in the Champions Cup final – so that’s three out of the four finalists who are French Eben Etzebeth’s long quest for respect, May 2022, Daily Maverick by John Cardinelli External links Category:Rugby union players from South Africa Category:1991 births Category:Living people