I’LL BEK IT UP: Bok Etzebeth is not backing down from Irish comments
|Published
Eben Etzebeth of South Africa during the Springbok Media Conference Team Announcement at Southern Sun Hotel in Pretoria on 02 July 2024 ©Samuel Shivambu/BackpagePix
Springbok lock Eben Etzebeth says he won’t backtrack on comments he made about Ireland ahead of their Test-series opener at Loftus Versfeld this Saturday.
Etzebeth said on a podcast in April that he was shocked at how some Irish players were talking of facing the Boks in last year’s World Cup final after a group-stage game in Paris.
The towering lock felt the Irish were underestimating New Zealand, and in the end, the All Blacks klapped the Iere 28-24 in the quarterfinal.
His comments led to some backlash in Ireland, making him a gemerkte man ahead of this weekend’s clash.
Etzebeth is min gespin, though, and says: “I would say the Irish media definitely targeted me after that…
“Look, I said what I said and it was after the game and I see a lot of them saying how could I have counted up to that amount of how many players said that to me.
“We will never after a game tell a team ‘See you in the final’ if there is still so much rugby to be played.
“Maybe it was their way of saying they think we are a good side and might make it all the way through... I don’t know.”
Etzebeth, meanwhile, will play in his 121st Test at Loftus and has fond memories as a Stormers player after receiving the biggest news of his career.
It was back in 2012 when the now-Shark and his then- Stormers teammates went up Loftus and beat the Bulls 19-14, before hearing he has been picked for the Boks.
He says: “Ja, Loftus, an unbelievable stadium and when you sing the anthem and how they [fans] sing together and are in it with you is unbelievable.
“And like [coach] Rassie [Erasmus] who scored his first try [as a Springbok here], I for the first time heard I was going to be in the Springbok team after we [Stormers] beat the Bulls, so Loftus will always be special for me.”
Test week in full swing 🤝#ForeverGreenForeverGold #Springboks pic.twitter.com/PwDvBgnIvv
— Springboks (@Springboks) July 3, 2024