![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/20251225_152053-jpg.webp\")
Former Otago rugby captain Eben Joubert with wife Melanie and sons Emil (9) and Carl (12) in Hamburg. Photo: Supplied <\/p>\nFormer Otago captain Eben Joubert lives in Germany now but he still keeps a close eye on his home nation (South Africa) and his adopted land (New Zealand). He shares his thoughts on the Greatest Rivalry tour.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve really enjoyed the build-up and warm-up matches. It\u2019s great to see the All Blacks playing with confidence and intent again. There\u2019s a real belief there, and they\u2019re moving in the right direction.<\/p>\n
Living in Europe now, it\u2019s been fun to follow the buzz around Fabian Holland, but honestly, the player who\u2019s impressed me most is Anton Segner. He plays in the position I used to play, and I really like the way he goes about his work.<\/p>\n
Also, living in Germany now, thanks to him, Germany has started to show the matches on national TV here, and Anton is quite the star in Germany.<\/p>\n
Now I get to watch the rugby in Germany. The only drawback is I need to listen to German commentary, which is a bit of a headache, but it is wonderful to see the game growing here as well.<\/p>\n
Former Otago rugby captain Eben Joubert with wife Melanie and sons Emil (9) and Carl (12) in Hamburg. Photo: Supplied <\/p>\n
Along with Cam Roigard, Anton is\u00a0one I\u2019ll be watching most closely.<\/p>\n
For South Africa, it feels less about one or two stars and more about how they impose their game. They\u2019ve got huge depth, which is a strength, but it also makes combinations crucial.<\/p>\n
Personally, I\u2019m really excited about Paul de Villiers. A young, natural openside. Seeing him and Segner go at it would be an epic loose forward battle.<\/p>\n
Knowing Rassie Erasmus, he\u2019ll have his combinations and plan sorted.<\/p>\n
This series feels like it comes down to who forces the other away from their natural game.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s going to be tight, but if pressed, I\u2019d back the Springboks to edge the first test. Whatever happens, I just can\u2019t wait.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Otago captain Eben Joubert lives in Germany now but he still keeps a close eye on his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":575929,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[156,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-575928","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=575928"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575928\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/575929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=575928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=575928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=575928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}