'He has got a fantastic left foot on him as well... He is a driven man'
Adriaan Pieter Esterhuizen, more affectionately known as André, or André The Giant, has made a strong case for a starting place in the South African team at the World Cup.
He has made sporadic appearances for the Springboks since his debut against Wales in that odd Test in Washington in 2018.
Nobody would have blamed him if he had a serious case of the sulks after his omission from the 2019 World Cup squad.
Yet he continued to improve his game and last year Harlequins assistant coach Jerry Flannery paid the ‘Agent of Chaos’ the ultimate compliment: “His distribution, it is basically like having a tighthead lock playing in the No.12 jersey, who can catch and pass as good as anybody else.
“He has got a fantastic left foot on him as well,” he said of the 194 centimetres (six feet, four inches) backline player.
That form was carried into 2023 by a player voted the Premiership Players’ Player of the Year.
In the opening Rugby Championship encounter with Australia, at Loftus Versfeld, the 29-year-old had 17 carries for 56 metres, one clean break, beat five defenders and produced one offload.
The Boks won comfortably, 43-12.
His performance went up a level in the warm-up match against Los Pumas in Buenos Aires – with 57 metres from just seven carries in a much tighter game – which also saw him produce another sublime offload. It was a 24-13 win for South Africa.
His best outing of the year was against the All Blacks at Twickenham – taking his carrier metres to 60-odd from seven carries, one clean bream, four defenders beaten and another offload.
He had already secured his World Cup spot and now he is challenging Damian de Allende for a starting spot.
Bok coach Jacques Nienaber was stating the obvious when he said Esterhuizen was ‘on form’.
“He was good in the Australia game, when we started him,” the coach said, adding: “The Argentina away game, which was a very hostile environment and a tough game to win.
“He was also good against the All Blacks.”
Nienaber reiterated a previously stated goal – building as much squad depth as possible.
“We feel it is going to require a squad effort to win the World Cup.
“If we want to defend the title, it will require a squad of 33 that are all in-form, had good game minutes under their belt and pushed each other.
“There must be good, controlled competition during the week and the guys must help each other.
“With him [Esterhuizen] and Damian [de Allende] – with Damian’s performance last week [a 52-16 rout of Wales in Cardiff] was as high a standard.
“They are pushing each other really hard.”
Nienaber said Esterhuizen is not unfamiliar to the Bok coaching staff – having coached him at the south African Under-20 team at the Junior World Cup in New Zealand in 2014.
“He is a quality player,” the coach said, adding: “He is a driven man.”
Comments on RugbyPass
“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
1 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
3 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
3 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
3 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
4 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
4 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to comments