Both giants of South African rugby, Eben Etzebeth comes out on top against Bakkies Botha in a hypothetical duel to the death, according to fellow Springbok lock RG Snyman.
The other half of the ‘blood brothers’, Botha was the grunt to Victor Matfield’s guile and by his retirement in 2015, the 85-cap lock had won everything there is to win in Test, provincial and club rugby.
The pre-eminent enforcer of the professional era, the Boks benefited from Botha’s love for the physical stuff, and few have dominated the gainline and bullied the contact area like he did.
Etzebeth enjoyed a rapid rise to the heights of Test rugby, and became the youngest South African player to reach 50 Test caps for his country in 2016, at the age of 24.
In his debut Test series, Etzebeth cemented his reputation as a hard-hitting lock, and as the years have passed he has grown as a leader in the Bok change room.
The two-time World Cup winner is the most capped Springbok with 131 Tests, overtaking Matfield’s all-time record last year, and remains an integral part of Rassie Erasmus’ plans for Australia 2027.
READ: Ruthless Rassie brings the best out of RG
Three years ago, Etzebeth and Botha famously locked horns in the media after the latter said he was disappointed that his successor had failed to live up to his reputation while at Toulon, the Top 14 club Botha represented between 2011 and 2015.
Speaking on The Big Jim Show with former Scotland international Jim Hamilton, Snyman discussed the physicality of Botha and Etzebeth, and who ‘walks out a room alive’ after a showdown between the Bok behemoths in their prime.
“Obviously I know Bakkies, I don’t know him that well, but knowing Eben, I’d say Eben walks out,” the double world champion and two-time Vodacom URC-winning lock said.
“He’s f***ing savage, he has a bit of something about him, yeah.
“There’s nothing fake, nothing’s put on about it, you know, it’s all Eben just being himself.”
Hamilton agreed, sharing his account of an altercation with Etzebeth during a 2013 Boks-Scotland clash at Mbombela Stadium.
“I was out in a bar in Nelspruit celebrating a close loss, and someone came up to me in the bar and said, ‘you need to watch yourself when you come to South Africa’. Eben’s family are tough as nails, that’s what they said,” he added.
Photo: Duif du Toit/Gallo Images
