Rassie Erasmus praised Eben Etzebeth after the veteran lock produced a commanding 80-minute performance in the Springboks’ 17-10 win against Argentina in Buenos Aires on Saturday.
Etzebeth made his first appearance for the Boks since last November, extending his national record to 142 Test caps.
The 34-year-old was one of seven Springboks returning from injuries or niggles against Los Pumas.
The highlight of Etzebeth’s effort was a thunderous tackle on Argentina centre Faustino Sánchez Valarolo.
“Eben Etzebeth going 80. I thought we saw the old Eben again in the game,” Erasmus said. “He was physical, he carried well. He defended well.”
Erasmus was also encouraged by what he saw from Etzebeth’s second-row partner Lood de Jager, despite the veteran lock understandably tiring on his return to Test rugby.
“Lood de Jager was really physical in the first 25-30 minutes when he was relatively fresh, and then obviously the pace of the game got to him because he hasn’t played in almost a year.”
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Captain Siya Kolisi also made his comeback, leaving the field after 24 minutes with a hamstring injury.
“I thought Siya was really dynamic with his carries and his clean-outs,” said Erasmus.
There was valuable game time, too, for flyhalf Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and scrumhalf Morné van den Berg.
“Sacha was obviously playing back for the first time in a very long time and he wasn’t very accurate, you could see he got tired,” Erasmus said.
“Then obviously Krappie [Van den Berg] … it was very blustery and very windy so it was difficult to control the box-kicks.”
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Erasmus added that utility backs Canan Moodie and Ethan Hooker had also made encouraging returns.
“I thought Canan Moodie came through well, Ethan Hooker also came through well after being out for a while.”
Photo: Juan Jose Gasparini/Gallo Images
The post Rassie: We saw the old Eben again appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.
Rassie Erasmus praised Eben Etzebeth after the veteran lock produced a commanding 80-minute performance in the Springboks’ 17-10 win against Argentina in Buenos Aires on Saturday.
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