Eben Etzebeth explains how his career as a winger ended and recalls his infamous ‘scuffles’ versus the Wallabies and Wales
South Africa's Eben Etzebeth in Cardiff last November and, inset, clashing with Australia's Allan Alaalatoa
Famed Springboks enforcer Eben Etzebeth has explained the transformation his body underwent as a 16-year-old, ending his time as a winger and turning him into an international-level second-row.
The now 34-year-old, who has made a record 141 Test appearances for South Africa, is currently in Johannesburg preparing for his country’s August 8 match away to Argentina in Buenos Aires before the four-game Greatest Rivalry series versus the All Blacks opens on August 22.
That series is set to perfectly examine the progress of the Springboks in their preparations for next year’s attempt to win a third consecutive Rugby World Cup title.
Etzebeth was at the heart of their 2019 and 2023 triumphs in Japan and France respectively, but there was a time when the idea of being a legendary Springboks second-row was a far-fetched thought.
“In that year I just grew…”
He now stands at 2.03 metres tall and is a feared presence for the opposition whenever he plays, but the South African started out playing as a winger. It wasn’t until he started gyming at the same time that his body experienced a growth spurt that he developed the frame that moved him into the forwards.
Appearing on Boks Unpacked, the show co-hosted by former Springboks Jean de Villiers, Schalk Burger and Hanyani Shimange, Etzebeth was asked if it was true that he originally played as a winger before becoming a second-row.
“I did until U16,” he admitted. “I was still at U14/U15 medium size with the other kids in my school, and then at 16 I was still in the back line. But over that year I started gyming with my brother, and in that year I just grew. By the end of U19 I was probably 1.95m, from an average 16-year-old to that, and I picked up a good 25, 30kgs in that year.”
Etzebeth was also asked about his heaviest bench press. He replied: “175. But not today anymore. There is too many shoulders, there’s too many injuries.
“Lots of young guys think you must gym to play rugby really well, but you need to have the skill and the IQ for rugby as well. It’s not just about lifting big weights.”
Etzebeth has yet to play for the Springboks in 2026 due to injury – a hip problem that curtailed his season at the Sharks was followed by a training ground concussion in the lead-up to the July 4 Nations Championship match versus England.
His last Test appearance endured a grubby ending as he was found guilty at an independent disciplinary hearing for eye-gouging Wales’ Alex Mann in the 79th minute of a 73-0 November win over Wales.
This resulted in a 12-week suspension, a very different outcome from the 2022 scuffle with Australia’s Allan Alaalatoa. A brawl ignited after Makazole Mapimpi scored a late try in that Rugby Championship match four years ago and his ensuing confrontation with Marika Koroibete resulted in Etzebeth squaring off with Alaalatoa.
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“I must say before that game there was the whole Mapimpi-Koroibete thing and there was that whole build-up,” he recalled. “It was quite intense and then Mapimpi scored in the other corner and started brawling a bit with Koroibete and everyone came in. If you’re there, you must help.
“He [Alaalatoa] pulled me from the back and got a bit angry but after the game, it’s always like that; stuff happens in the game and afterwards you drink beer and chill and everyone is relaxed.
“There is a line as well,” he added. “If you do get in a scuffle, that’s fine, but you start swearing or spitting and those types of things…
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“Something happened with me last year against Wales; it was unintentional, and the other guy knew it, and we also shook hands afterwards. Once you really become personal and stuff, we don’t have a place for that in the game.”
Etzebeth broke onto the international scene at a time when enforcers in the pack enjoyed cult hard man status, but he explained the sport was much different now and that pressure has been alleviated.
“I don’t try to put too much pressure on myself with that,” he said. “The game has also changed. Where in the past there were maybe three or four physical guys, nowadays also what Rassie (Erasmus) now requires – physicality is key.
“Probably if you don’t have that you won’t get selected, so it’s not all on me. I know there is Ox (Nche) and Malcolm (Marx) and Damian (de Allende) bumping forwards. Anthony Jelonch, when we played France, he was their hard man, and he is a hard man to play against, and Cheslin (Kolbe) ran straight at him and bumped him.
“There is so many guys. It’s not like when the other team is taking care of someone, taking care of me, that the job is done. There is Pieter-Steph (du Toit), there’s Lood (de Jager), there’s Jasper (Wiese). Jasper is something else carrying a ball.
“The pressure is just to try and keep on performing and to be physical in games, but there is just so many other guys.”
