Eben Etzebeth labelled 'fake tough guy' as Joe Marler names most feared player

Former England loosehead Joe Marler has named South African World Cup winner Bakkies Botha rugby’s most feared player, describing him as a “nasty piece of work as a rugby player.”

Joining his former England and Harlequins team-mate Danny Care on his Hits Different  show, Marler was tasked with determining rugby’s most feared player since 2008 out of 16 players.

The former Springboks lock beat Sebastian Chabal and Marcos Ayerza on the way to the semi-finals, where he was pitted against former England captain Courtney Lawes, who had progressed past Carl Hayman and Danny Grewcock.

On the other half of the draw, former Tonga No.8 Chris Hala’ufia made it to the semi-finals, beating Willem Alberts and Duane Vermeulen.

On his encounter with the former London Irish and Quins back-row, Marler said: “When he moved to London Irish, I remember playing — I’m surprised I remember this — but it was before the HIA was brought in.

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“Ben Botica, I’m outside Bots at the Madejski. I’m outside him and hitting a decent line, when I used to be able to run, and Bots has done a no-look like that. I’ve caught the ball and, as I’ve caught it, this unit has absolutely melted me, head high here. I’ve just hit the deck and lost the ball.

“Watching it back and just being like, “Oh my God, he’s a big hitter.” I wasn’t the only one.”

Care added: “People were genuinely terrified of him. In training, he would just tickle you and laugh while he did it, then he’d go onto the pitch and he would melt people.”

Of the entire list of players, only one is still plying their trade on the international circuit, Eben Etzebeth. The Springbok great crashed out in the first round, however, losing to former All Black Brad Thorn, with Marler saying: “He did what I used to do. All fart, no poo. Fake tough guy, for me.”

Thorn progressed to the semi-final, beating Etzebeth and Paul O’Connell along the way, and was pitted against Hala’ufia.

Marler then chose Botha to make it to the final, saying: “He’s an out-and-out thug. That’s what he played his game on — just melting people, but not legally. The things he did were more illegal than legal.

“He wasn’t really a world-class rugby player. He was a world-class thug and was part of world-class teams, but Courtney was a world-class rugby player.

“This board is about being most feared. Who’s the most feared rugby player? Was I ever scared of Courtney? I was scared to maybe catch the end of one of his tackles, but he never really would tackle me, to be honest.

“Was I scared of Bakkies? I was always scared of him. I was scared of him.”

Having originally chosen Thorn to make it to the final, Marler reassessed his decision, placing Hala’ufia in the final, saying: “I was always scared of him as well.

“I was never really scared of you [Thorn]. I was just impressed by you. I wasn’t ever scared of you, Courtney, because we had a good relationship.”

With Botha and Hala’ufia the finalists, Marler crowned the South African the winner, saying: “So the final: these two scumbags — scared of them. I didn’t want to go anywhere near them. Filth. Horrible.”