Eben Etzebeth - The Greatest Rugby ENFORCER Of All Time?

Comments:

He's evolved the enforcer role of Bakkies. He's fitter, stronger, smarter and more disciplined. I think he has two yellow cards and no reds for the Boks which came early in his career.

Great highlights! Loved even since he started. Him bumping bismark is still the greatest thing I've ever seen in rugby, gives me goosebumps to this day, the crowd went wild like a try had just been scored, immemse

Love or hate him he's someone you'd want on your team

This man is a blast to watch. Absolute Beast

His work ethic makes him the best in his position for a few years now

Kiwi here, All Black fan who really appreciates this Springbok player. Incredibly strong and athletic second rower. Love the way he just smiles and stands his ground in any confrontation.

I love him a true springbok and rugby player and a gentleman

Eben is a great player, and should habe been team captain since 2016, but he is a long way off Bakkies, Danie, and as an enforcer, Flip. 

Car d can you lease stop talking junk. 

Thanks

Lemur, different era of the game. Listen to John Smit when he says that different rules apply. Sound like Bakkies was a really dirty player and love beating players up in the shadows. Throwing punches in the scrum etc. Not to mention the head but on the Kiwi 9. 

I know Rugby is contact sport and I appreciate a decent hit on a player, but I have no room for dirty players. 

Japie Mulder is another player I can't stand, smashed in De Web Barry cheek bone with an off the ball shoulder to the head, lined him up in the first 5 minute. Never got banned for that where as today he would be sitting out for a long time. I would put longer sanctions on players

Eben is our most valuable player probably followed by Willie Le Roux, who galvanizes our back play. Oddly enough these two can do no right for some fans.

I'd have Kwagga as our most important. Next, Am, Eben and Willie. Wiese is pretty good too. That's near enough our core, with Mostert. 

All great players but for me "Bakkies" was the man.

We are a team that gets bullied around a bit, team's make in-roads rather easily, as reflected by our poor defence stats for the season. The likes of Bakkies consistently did not take a step back. We just don't make them quite the same way anymore. We are not a team that strikes fear into the hearts of opposition players anymore. No team dared run right at us like they do now. There is scarcely a fear of losing the ball. I see no one is mentioning Jerry Collins. There were very many big enforcers, and not all of them were backs! Lomu, De Wet Barry, Kobus Wiese, Krige, So'oialo, Grewcock, Dallaglio (sp?). I'm sure there are more. 

Kwagga is by some margin the best Bok. It's not even close. Without Kwagga a poor season would have been all the worse. We don't have much consistency right now; Kwagga is the model of consistent excellence. He should be the first name on the team sheet. 

Kolbe, De Allende, Arendse, Mapimpi, Willemse, Pollard, Faf, Malherbe, Lood, Kolisi, PTSD are all mediocre at this time. RG hasn't even played for the Boks in years. He very well could have been the best Bok had he been fit enough to string one whole season together. Willie is one of our core players, so too Eben. Kwagga has been the best performer of the season without question. One of the very few competitors we have in the team. 

Another day, another Saffex rant...

If every player was available right now? What's the purpose of this? We clearly argue on every issue, so what's the point? But, if you insist, I shall deliver, if you promise that you take your Anafranil this evening (you are clearly a very angry man) . 

1. Ox
2. Marx (fetching gives edge)
3. Undecided
4. Eben
5. RG
6. Kwagga
7. D du Preez
8. Wiese
9. Hendrickse
10. Pollard
11. Mapimpi
12. Esterhuizen
13. Am
14. Undecided
15. Willie

I'm not sure about Kwagga as a physical player but he gets stuck as is evidence by the shape of his nose. Way more than that loafer , Kolosi that only spring into life when the game is easy. 

The only down side with today's rules are that teams love to wind up Eben. The argies, Aussies and Maro Itoje really get under his skin. Where as in a different era, nobody would mess with Bakkies or even Mark Andrews. Andrews was a real tough number 5. Imagine having those two. Andrews and Bakkies together. 

Yup, Wiese and the Du Preez twins are really physical. 

But I would not go for that pack of Lemur

In the Past Willie was not always consistent and I did not like him much.... but for a long time now,  he is really showing his undeniable Qualities.....and Eben is nothing else but the best lock on Planet Earth.  

Kwagga really doesn't get the credit he fully deserves

If dwarf throwi ng was a sport, Eben would be world champ!!!

Kwagga is immensely physical. We don't have another player who can disrupt the opposition like he can at the source. He is strong on defence and very hard to stop ball in hand. He is very skilled too. Kwagga is just not one of those media darlings. Look at those Boks who made season xv teams: Damian, Faf, Kolisi, Malherbe, Willemse. Can you honestly tell me they were more deserving of a spot than Kwagga? It just shows how little these people know. People who study film don't draw the same conclusions. 

Kwagga is not bad at all and deserve more praises.....quietly he does his thing very well.... very much like Mostert.

This is the thing, he is actually quite prominent. That's before we look at film, where it becomes irrefutable. The difference is that the media doesn't have him as one of their blue eyes. That's the reason why some can't see it, if the media doesn't point it out then they will never see it. Media praises the nothing of Kolisi, Damian and Steph, and everyone hops on board. 

Very true

Players the  Media created in the last 10 years:

Luke Watson

Patrick Lambie

JJ Englebrecht

Elton Jantjies

Siya Kolisi

Dud Toit

Dud Allende

Mapimpi

Fassi

Spies

…..

There are others. But these are the main ones. Not that these players haven’t made contributions, but their contributions have been hopelessly exaggerated.

Not a fan of either Mosterd or Lood, but I see Mostert's value and Lood is very handy when fit...PSDT is off his game of late. He needs to play in the URC...he's quite a handful when he's match fit. Kwagga is gold, but I won't pick him over a fit PSDT.

For me both Kwagga and Franco are specialist bench players...good enough to start in emergencies,  but not the clear best in their positions...great team players though.

Mapimpi: He is our best overall wing. He had regressed though, like Pollard. One of our best players who has been sucked into the mediocrity of Erasmus. He used to work harder off the ball.

Spies: This one is interesting. He was heavily hyped when he entered the senior game. However, he was a genuine liability. He was reckless and ran wildly. It was from 2008 that he really tightened his game up, but he wasn't as praised as before. He became a solid Bok. It seems that our media love poor play, at it is more discernible to those with no ability to assess the game. A player running into blind alleys against the flow of movement is easier to see, or a player rushing wildly out of the line too. They don't pick up the mess they leave for their teammates. In 2006, we were running Ireland ragged, but three Spies rushes out of the line (like Steph) let in three easy tries that blew the game. He was never ever held accountable for that.

PTSD : He is playing very much to his usual level of play. This player is a very low impact player with very, very few high points. He has been massively overhyped. He is the reason we lost to NZ in the WC, but was never ever held accountable. He makes the same mistakes each and every game. To date his collection of good performances include the home win over Australia in 2018 (Esterhuizen was the MOM though) and the away loss to England in 2018. That's it. The cupboard is bare. He is not very strong, his defence the statistically the worst of every Bok since 2016, he cannot carry the ball, he has poor skills, he cannot clean or counter ruck, he is below average in the lineouts, he can't read play, he is reckless and very easily goaded by attackers. A mere myth.