Eben Etzebeth

Eben Etzebeth (born 29 October 1991) is a South African professional rugby union player. He plays for the Sharks in the United Rugby Championship and for the Springboks, where he wears the number 4 jersey as a loosehead lock. Since his international debut in 2012, he has earned 141 caps, more than any other Springbok in history.

Etzebeth grew up in Parow, in a family of professional wrestlers. He was a late bloomer physically: when he started seventh grade, he stood only 1.5 metres tall and weighed about 56 kilograms, playing on the school’s B-team as a winger, centre, or fly-half. He also competed as a sprinter and high jumper. In eleventh grade, he grew 50 centimetres and gained 50 kilograms, which moved him from the backs to the lock position.

He entered the Western Province youth system in 2009 and played in the Under-18 Craven Week. In 2011, he was part of the Varsity Cup-winning side, but an injury sidelined him for the second half of the year and kept him out of the 2011 Currie Cup. Despite that, he was named in the Stormers squad for the 2012 Super Rugby season. He recovered in time for the start of the campaign and made his debut on 25 February 2012. That season he played 13 matches, scored one try, and helped the Stormers win 14 of 16 league games before losing in the semi-finals.

International duty meant he missed the early part of the 2012 Currie Cup, but he returned for the final three matches, earning his first three Western Province caps and helping the team win their first Currie Cup title since 2002. He was named Man of the Match in the final, a 25–18 win in Durban.

Injury kept him out of the first half of the 2013 Super Rugby season. He returned for the second half, playing eight matches and scoring one try, while winning a team-high 47 lineouts and making eight steals on opposition throws. For the 2013 Currie Cup, he again missed large chunks due to Springbok commitments, returning for the final three matches, but Western Province lost the final 33–19 to the Sharks.

A foot injury sustained on international duty in November 2013 ruled him out of the entire first six months of 2014. In April 2013, he signed a deal to stay with Western Province and the Stormers until 2016.

In July 2015, he signed to play for NTT Docomo Red Hurricanes Osaka in Japan’s Top League. In December 2018, Top 14 side Toulon announced he would join them after the 2019 Rugby World Cup. In January 2021, he started at blindside flank for the first time after teammate Swan Rebbadj was injured before kick-off.

In February 2022, the Sharks signed Etzebeth on a long-term contract until 2027. On 24 May 2024, he captained the Sharks to a Challenge Cup final win over Gloucester Rugby, making them the first South African team to win a major European rugby trophy.

At the international level, Etzebeth played for the South Africa Under-20 team at the 2011 IRB Junior World Championship in Italy, where the Baby Boks finished fifth. He was first called up to the Springbok squad by new head coach Heyneke Meyer for the three-match series against England in June 2012. He made his debut on 9 June 2012 at Kings Park Stadium in Durban, starting in the second row alongside fellow debutant Juandré Kruger in a 22–17 win. Despite injury setbacks, he has remained first-choice in the number 4 jersey. By the end of the 2014 Rugby Championship, he had 29 caps and had not yet scored a try. Uniquely, he has more international appearances than Super Rugby and Currie Cup appearances combined, and he debuted for South Africa before playing any Vodacom Cup or Currie Cup rugby for Western Province.

On 23 November 2013, he was nominated for the IRB Player of the Year award alongside Leigh Halfpenny, Sergio Parisse, Kieran Read, and Ben Smith. At age 25, he could bench press 385 pounds and perform incline dumbbell chest presses with 175-pound dumbbells (as of 2018).

He was selected for the 31-man squad for the 2015 Rugby World Cup and played in every pool match, including a bench appearance in the historic 32–34 loss to Japan. He started in the quarter-final win over Wales and the semi-final loss to New Zealand (18–20). On 30 October 2015, he started in the bronze final against Argentina, playing the full 80 minutes and scoring a try in the 43rd minute to help South Africa win third place.

Etzebeth played his 50th test against Australia in round 3 of the 2016 Rugby Championship, becoming the youngest South African to reach that milestone at age 24. The match was a disappointment: he was yellow-carded in the 41st minute of a 1–? loss.