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The Bryan Habana verdict on Toulon row between Botha and Etzebeth
Bryan Habana has given his verdict on the row earlier this year between Bakkies Botha and Eben Etzebeth, two fellow Springboks legends who had a falling out over the fortunes of Toulon during the early part of the 2021/22 season. The powerhouse French club lived in fear of the drop over the winter but they eventually bucked up their results, finishing eighth in the Top 14 and reaching the final of the European Challenge Cup courtesy of an impressive semi-final win over Saracens.
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Etzebeth finished the campaign with a flourish, shaking off his injury issues to start 13 matches from the middle of February onwards and play 840 minutes, a busy contribution in contrast to the criticism directed at him by Botha when he wasn’t available to play.
Toulon president Bernard Lemaitre had claimed in January that having a player of Etzebeth’s calibre and pay grade injured was in effect a “handicap” for the then Top 14 strugglers, an opinion that Botha weighed in on when interviewed some weeks later by Midi Olympique.
“Eben Etzebeth? Incredible fighter, best second row in the world. But I regret that he only shows his best face with the Springboks,” claimed Botha shortly after it was confirmed that his fellow South African would be returning home for the 2022/23 URC season.
“In Toulon, he is still a little injured, concussed and in the end, never plays. Obviously, he was not made for France and he will turn his back on the problems the club went through to return to South Africa.
“It’s disappointing. I love Eben, I repeat, but you can’t say when you arrive in Toulon: ‘I want to be champion of France’ and leave sometime later without having marked the club in one way or another… When you recruit a world-class player, it’s for him to make a difference.”
The comments annoyed Etzebeth, who tweeted Botha and it required a phone call between the pair to eventually iron things out. “We spoke and all is sorted. No hard feelings after that,” explained Etzebeth to RugbyPass in May. “Bakkies rang me and we spoke. He said it was taken out of context a bit. I also read the article. We solved it and when we see each other in South Africa again we will have a beer.”
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Two months on from the Etzebeth revelation that that pair has made their peace, Habana, another South African who knows all about what it takes to play for the big-spending Toulon, gave his take on the bust-up. “Bakkies doesn’t mince his words, he eats his mince, a lot of it,” quipped the retired winger during an appearance on RugbyPass Offload.
“Two world-class players in my opinion. Eben will be the next centurion in two games’ time and is a guy who has given so much to South African rugby. He has been unfortunate in terms of injuries and I got told exactly the same thing. I got called in by Bernard Laporte.
“I wanted to play sevens, tried to make the team for the 2016 Rio Olympics. I get back from the end-of-year tour, had been injured, went to the Springboks and came back and said listen I want to go play sevens. Bernard Laporte said, ‘Then your contract is finished. We will get Julian Savea in. You can go to the sevens but then you don’t have a contract’. ‘Guys, my contract is for another year and a half’.
“Bakkies’ critique, Bakkies is a good man. Unfortunately, when you say something to the media it gets taken out of context. I’m sure you boys watched the semi-final of the Challenge Cup when Toulon played Saracens and Eben was an absolute monster. He dominated that Sarries pack.
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“The president also said that Eben was a handicap to the club. I’m like, ‘Jeepers’. Injuries are part of your career and Eben is a monster, he wears his heart on his sleeve and is one of the biggest bruisers in World Rugby. It would be interesting to see him and Bakkies go toe to toe, Bakkies is a man-mountain of note.
“Bakkies did win three European championships at Toulon, one Top 14 so I understand where he was coming from but it is always tough as a former player when you say something and it gets taken out of context… It’s crap when you hear things like that. Was it valid? It was tough for Eben and when he did play for Toulon he was pretty decent.”
Comments on RugbyPass
NZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
22 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
22 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
22 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
22 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
9 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
9 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
28 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
22 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
28 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
22 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
90 Go to comments