Springboks: Tony Brown hails the impact of world champions’ ‘one-man wrecking machine’
Springboks: Tony Brown hails the impact of world champions' 'one-man wrecking machine'
Tony Brown has highlighted how important Andre Esterhuizen is to the Springboks’ cause and how the impact of his utility value is boosting the world champions.
Despite playing most of their match against France in Paris at the weekend with 14 men – after Lood de Jager was red carded for foul play – the Springboks adapted almost immediately to that setback with Esterhuizen playing a big part in helping his side to beat Les Bleus at the Stade de France.
The 31-year-old, who usually plays as an inside centre, was on the world champions’ bench as a hybrid player and in the 48th minute, he replaced the Boks’ first choice number 12 Damian de Allende.
And although Esterhuizen was a like-for-like replacement for De Allende, Springboks head coach Rassie Erasmus also used him to play on the flank in the tight exchanges.
Played a key role in Springboks’ victory
That tactic proved handy as Esterhuizen made his presence felt in the scrums – as the Boks dominated Les Bleus in that department on several occasions and were rewarded with some penalties – and the lineouts and he was rewarded for his efforts with a try off the back of a driving maul in the 65th minute.
It was not the first time that Esterhuizen had fulfilled the hybrid position for his country. He was first used in the hybrid role during the Boks’ one-sided 54-7 victory in an exhibition match against the Barbarians in Cape Town in June, and during his side’s 43-10 Rugby Championship win against the All Blacks in Wellington in September.
Brown was full of praise for Esterhuizen’s ability to adapt to his new role in the Springboks set-up and said his cameo off the bench in Wellington, where three of their backline players were replaced in the opening half, helped them to decide on the make-up of their bench for the France Test.
“Having Andre float between the forwards and the backs is crucial for us going forward,” he told Supersport. “I think his ability to scrum more, carry with the forwards, but then also defend with the backs or attack with the backs is a massive advantage for us.
“Having him in Wellington, he made an amazing impact in that game and then against France, outstanding as well.
‘He’s a one-man wrecking machine’
“He’s become a bit of a, we call him a hybrid, but he’s a one-man wrecking machine.”
Brown hailed the Boks’ adaptability when they had their backs against the proverbial wall in Paris.
“It was an outstanding effort going down to 14 men and still being able to not only survive at the start of that second half, where we were under pressure a lot from France,” he added.
“So defensively, boys were just working so hard and just making everything as difficult as possible for France and then once we changed momentum and got a little bit of momentum, our ability to make the most of every opportunity we got.
“We only ended up in the French 22 six times or five times and we scored four tries, so being able to execute really well there and obviously adapt to the red card and players playing multiple positions was excellent.”
The Boks’ next encounter is against Italy at the Allianz Stadium in Turin on Saturday and Brown said they are now fully focused on that task after reaching that high in Paris.
“Not many teams can have a performance like we did against France and then back that up, so we all understand that and we all know that every minute that we have it on the training field and all of our meetings,” he said.
“They’ve got to have a real purpose to get back up to that intensity and get our preparation right to what is a very good Italian team.
“It’s going to be a massive challenge for us this week, but it’s Test rugby and you’ve got to be able to do it and the players have got to be able to do it, so we’ll be pushing them hard to get ready.”
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