Etzebeth – ‘I can control my anger’
PRETORIA, SOUTH AFRICA - JUNE 06: Eben Etzebeth of the Springboks during the South African national mens rugby team training session at Affies on June 06, 2017 in Pretoria, South Africa. (Photo by Sydney Seshibedi/Gallo Images)
Springbok enforcer Eben Etzebeth has defended his disciplinary record ahead of the upcoming three-match series against France.
Etzebeth has been under the spotlight in recent weeks for perceived anger issues after being involved in brawl while on Stormers duty against Blues.
The Stormers lock was yellow-carded for putting his hands in the face of Blues flank Akira Ioane after provocation from the Blues loose forward during the Round 13 Super Rugby clash.
But Etzebeth is pointing to a disciplinary record that does support his belief that he is not a hot-head.
“Discipline is always important at this level because you don’t want to get yellow cards or give penalties away,” he told Sport24.
“Personally‚ I have played over a 100 games for the Stormers and I have only received two yellow cards.
“I must say that I control my anger well enough and hopefully it will be the case again on Saturday.”
Meanwhile, Etzebeth expects Saturday’s encounter at Loftus to be a bruising one as the French are set to pick a big, physical side and this is something that Etzebeth is relishing.
“Saturday is going to be a physical encounter‚ from one to eight we know that and we are looking forward to getting the better of their forwards.
“Our coaches have done their homework and they will give us feedback on everything regarding them and hopefully we will get some insights from some of our guys who are based in France.”
“We’re looking forward to it. We’re going to climb into their forwards and I think we’re all very excited.”