I'm going to get straight into it.
Eben Etzebeth needs to go back to club rugby and get his form back that made him the best lock in world rugby last season and the one before.
This season he has been useless at best.
To make this sweet and short.
In 64min of rugby Eben did the following:
The good.
Stole 2 lineouts - Very good. Most in the game.
7 Carries for total gain of 14m. This should actually be in the bad section. As Eben was in the backline the whole game and only carried it 7 times?
Didn't miss any tackles - You will see why when it comes to the bad.
The bad
First time he touched the ball in the 13th minute he got driven back 5m.
I cant remember when last a bok got driven back so badly in the contact.
Go and have a look when SS shows the game again.
2 Tackels in the WHOLE GAME. This is 1 Tackle every 30MIN!! OUCH!!
This is also why he didn't miss any, because he hardly made any.
Most shocking for me is the cleaning at ruck time.
Eben made his first of TWO cleans in the 37th min.
This is the no 4 lock people. And you make 2 clean outs in more than 1 hour of play!!!
This is the problem with the game today. When a lock carries the 5 times he had a good game. A lock fist needs to do the following, secure line out, take kick off, scrum, defend and clean. Once this is done then you can be a show pony in the back line. You know you are having a bad run when Matfield is more physical than you and Jannie had a better game than you..
Victor Matfield is out performing Eben in every aspect of the game. And i really hope that Eben regains his form before next years world cup. Because a Eben on fire is one hell of a player. But test rugby is not the place to try and regain your form. It is costing the boks dearly. Eben now had 8 game back after injury and still there are no signs of him getting better. He has been average at best the whole season and that is just not good enough.
Go have a look at the game. Every time we do a drive from the lineout Eben is walking right at the back next to the ball carrier, doing nothing. The 4 lock should be right in the middle of the maul or right in the front doing the hard work. And it is shocking to me that no one has noticed how ineffective Eben has been this whole season.
Here is to hoping that the kid gets back his form before next years world cup.


