Bok family rallies around Etzebeth ahead of All Blacks game

The Springbok team has rallied around stand-in captain Eben Etzebeth ahead of their massive Rugby Championship match against the All Blacks in Auckland on Saturday.

Etzebeth’s father Harry passed away earlier in the week after a long battle with cancer, and the Bok enforcer decided to stay on in New Zealand and play in the game before heading back home to be with his family.

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At Friday’s captains press conference Etzebeth was not present, with the Springbok media liaison officer explaining they had allowed him to miss it out of respect for him and his family, while assistant coach Mzwandile Stick admitted it had been a tough few weeks for the team.

‘Our loss’

“Eben’s loss is also our loss because we are a family, it’s very sad and we have passed on our condolences to him and his family. We are really with him. The one thing about us as a team is we are always there for each other through tough times,” said Stick.

“I know the focus this week has been about him and his dad. But also in our camp we lost Jaden’s (Hendrikse) dad before we left South Africa.

“So that’s one thing I must be honest about and say as a team we are always there to support the guys. We have done everything in our power to make sure that we are there for Eben.”

“That’s also the reason why he is playing. He made a choice to play this weekend and I would like to think that he wants to do it for his dad. So we are 100% behind him as a team.”

Duty bound

After being asked whether the Boks felt they had a duty to beat the All Blacks for Etzebeth, Stick explained that they were more focused on supporting him, than laying it all down and saying they had to win for him.

“From our side with our prep, since we have got here we have prepped like we always do for any Test match. We know it’s a big task for us to play the All Blacks away from home,” said Stick.

“With Eben’s loss, I personally want us to be there for him. Whatever decision that he wants to take with everything that he is going through at the moment we just want to be there for him.

“He made his decision. He wants to play, he wants to probably honour his dad with this game and you can’t ask for any better game than the All Blacks to do that. I think it will be very special for what he is going through.

“We just have to make sure we doing everything in our power (in the match). Eben is our captain for the week and we are always going to make sure we try to perform to the best of our ability.”