Clad in a bucket hat and a pair of flip-flops as he looks out over St Brelade’s Bay on the island of Jersey, Eben Etzebeth is so laidback that he is virtually horizontal. It is a difficult image to square with the reputation of the most-capped Springboks of all time – for more than a decade, Etzebeth has served as the enforcer of the toughest team in the world, a one-man brute squad who matches his colossal contributions with remarkable consistency.
It is not quite a Jekyll and Hyde transformation when he steps across the white line but the contrast is striking. “In preparation is when the personality changes a bit,” Etzebeth explains to The Independent. “When we are out on the field training, there’s no time to be laidback. I’m a firm believer that the way you train is the way you play on the weekend. On the pitch, my mindset switches.”
