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Eben Etzebeth issues statement following assault accusations


Eben Etzebeth with Julian Savea (Photo by Duif du Toit/Gallo Images/Getty Images)
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Eben Etzebeth has issued a statement following an accusation that he assaulted a man in the Langebaan area of Cape Town.

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The Springbok and Stormers lock has been accused of racially abusing and attacking a man.

On Sunday a video and accusations made the rounds via social media, alleging Etzebeth assaulted and pointed a gun at a homeless man in Langebaan.

He is alleged to have used the racial slur ‘hotnots’ which is a derivative of the term ‘Hottentot’, an archaic term.

However, Etzebeth took to Facebook to refute the claims and deny any wrongdoing. The Bok labelled the incident as ‘untrue’ and echoed his love for ‘rainbow nation’.

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The statement reads:

“It is completely untrue and unfounded to claim that I physically or racially abused anyone in Langebaan as has been reported on social media. Multiple witnesses can corroborate that.”

“I am and will always strive to be a true ambassador to this beautiful rainbow nation and the sport that I love.”

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It’s been a rocky few days for the Springboks, with star winger Aphiwe Dyantyi testing positive for a banned substance.
In a media statement issued on Saturday via his agent Gert van der Merwe, the soon-to-be 25-year-old denied any wrongdoing.

“I want to deny ever taking any prohibited substance, intentionally or negligently, to enhance my performance on the field. I believe in hard work and fair play. I have never cheated and never will,” he wrote.

“The presence of this prohibited substance in my body has come as a massive shock to me and together with my management team and experts appointed by them, we are doing everything we can to get to the source of this and to prove my innocence.

“As a professional sportsman on national and international level we get tested on a regular basis. I have been tested before and again since this test. It is part of the job and we all know that each and every player is bound to get tested at least two to four times a year.

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Phantom 1 hour ago
Nations Championship: 'The data shows the north has finally caught up with the south'

Fact: the gap between the North and the South has narrowed considerably - that I get. However, determining that only selecting only Home grown players or playing in the home country is is the optimal strategy is a bit of a toss up and highly reliant on the economies of the home union. I do understand that England and to a lesser degree Ireland selects home based only. The top 14 is a massive threat to their domestic product. France would probably not be affected (the money is at home). Fiji, Argentina, Samoa, Italy and you could even argue Scotland have only benefitted from this. Their players either go overseas to learn at higher levels (Fiji, Samoa, Argentina) or players coming into their leagues to strengthen the home product and their National teams (Scotland, Italy, Japan).

South Africa used to limit its selection to the home based players, but the reality of a weak currency vs what players could earn oversees meant that you lost access to your best players at some stage of their careers, with very few exceptions. Kolbe left SA as he was considered too small for International Rugby (yes coaches/selectors view), but ironically in France he forced selectors to notice his endeavors and select him. He is only reaching 50 caps now despite being north of 30 - granted rotation and the odd injury also played a role, but for the most part it is having debuted or becoming a regular so late.



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