The first time Andre Esterhuizen played for Harlequins a thought struck Danny Care. “This guy,” mused the England star, “might be the best player I’ve ever played with”.
Care had 84 caps to his name and been an international for 12 years. He had played alongside some of rugby’s biggest names, from Jonny Wilkinson and Owen Farrell to Nick Evans and Marcus Smith.
Yet here was this South African centre, who had failed to make the Springboks’ World Cup squad and not come close to making a Green and Gold shirt his own, blowing his mind with the game he put on the park.
Playing alongside Andre Esterhuizen
“It is rare you get to play with someone, especially in a club team, that is that good,” Care says. “I’d played with big lads before, but I hadn’t played with lads that massive wanting to run people over.”
On Tuesday this week Esterhuizen, all 6’4, 18 stone of him, was handed the Springbok captaincy by Rassie Erasmus; only the 68th man to have that honour bestowed upon them.
The player who initially thought he’d made a mistake coming to England to reboot his career during the pandemic, will lead South Africa on Saturday in a one-off Test against Australia in Perth.
It caps a remarkable five-year period in which Andre ‘The Giant’ has gone from powering Quins to Gallagher Prem glory and picking up the league’s Players’ Player of the Year award, to becoming the most renowned hybrid player in the game.
Although he will wear the No.12 jersey on the weekend, it is as a forward in Erasmus’ Bomb Squad, that he has proved his worth to the world’s best team.
“I always thought there had to be a place for him somewhere in the South Africa team because he’s easily in the top three of best players I played with,” Care tells Planet Rugby.
“You don’t realise the brilliance of the man until you play with him and see what he can do to people, the damage he can cause. And the impact that has on your team.
“There was a year or two in the Prem where people couldn’t tackle him, people literally couldn’t defend him. From our first game together, I thought: This guy’s proper’. It’s frightening how good he has become.”
Wanting to leave England
Erasmus says the armband is a fitting reward for a player who has “brought so much to our squad on and off the field. We trust that he is the right man to take over the captaincy in this match.”
The Esterhuizen who arrived in London just before lockdown was less sure of himself.
“After six months here I actually wanted to go back,” he told me in a 2024 Planet Rugby interview. “As soon as we got here we were basically straight into lockdown for almost a year.
“We couldn’t really go out, couldn’t mingle, couldn’t go see places. We were in a new country, trying to get settled in and we just had to sit indoors. Yeah, that was quite tough.
“We (then-pregnant wife Mábea and baby son Liam) moved into a house and had no furniture or anything. We could only order stuff online. Personally, I really struggled, particularly when winter hit.
“I almost said I want to use my release clause, which was in my contract at the end of the first year. I had to fight that feeling, tell myself I hadn’t really given it a chance.
“My wife and I had a long talk about it and eventually we said, ‘Okay, we have come this far, we need to give it a proper shot’. It was a big decision. Luckily we chose to stay because so much good happened off the back of it.”
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He never wanted to play in the forwards
Care remembers the time at Quins post-Covid as fondly as any period in his career and says his wrecking ball team mate is a big reason for that.
“If you could carve out and sculpt the perfect 12, Andre would be that player,” considers the TNT Sports pundit. Perhaps that is why the Londoners did not consider using him as a forward.
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“He never even wanted to go near the forwards,” Louis Lynagh, Quins’ 2021 Prem Final match-winner testifies. “He always talked about how his first position was fullback.
“What he was was a godsend to Marcus [Smith], who feeds off a bit of space with defenders biting in. Defences had to put at least two or three people on Andre.
“He sets foot in any team in the world and makes it better. So am I surprised he’s been so successful with the Springboks? Not at all. Put him in a team like that and it elevates not only him but the players around him.”
Every match of the 2026/27 Gallagher PREM is live on TNT Sports and HBO Max, kicking off this Friday with Northampton Saints vs Newcastle Red Bulls from 7pm on TNT Sports 1.
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