Durban - Global superstar Eben Etzebeth has been confirmed as the latest headline act to join the Sharks where he will be reunited with his former Stormers teammates Siya Kolisi and Bongi Mbonambi.
Etzebeth, who has been capped 97 times for the Springboks, provides a massive boost to a Sharks pack that has been missing a genuine enforcer for some years now.
The Sharks’ pack has been coming together nicely in the United Rugby Championship and their scrumming has been impressive thanks to Georgian scrum doctor Akvsenti Giorgadze, and the addition of the brutal Etzebeth in the second row will take the pack to another level.
They already boast a Springbok front row of Ox Nche, Bongi Mbonambi and Thomas du Toit and have Springbok captain Kolisi on the flank.
Etzebeth was released by Toulon late last week and it is understood that he has had to take a salary cut to return to South Africa.
The tank just got a whole lot more dangerous! Welcome to the family @EbenEtzebeth 🖤 #OurSharksForever pic.twitter.com/qxYz75BOWM
— The Sharks (@SharksRugby) February 17, 2022
While Etzebeth was a popular player at the French giants, Toulon president Bernard Lemaître has complained that Etzebeth was a “handicap” because he is “expensive, is regularly injured and is often away on Test duty”.
Etzebeth has only just resumed playing after a three-month stand-down period because of a third concussion suffered during the Boks’ loss to England last November.
The Toulon statement read: “Eben Etzebeth has expressed his desire to put an early end to the contract binding him to Toulonnais in order to return, for personal reasons, to South Africa. Aware of the difficulties encountered by the player, the club took note of this request and accepted it.”
@MikeGreenaway