![\"Andre](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/\/507ff386-87af-4d9f-833f-04c450ee7040.jpg\")
<\/p>\nAndr\u00e9 Esterhuizen may just be the most valuable player in rugby right now. <\/p>\n
An inside centre that every team in the world would start consistently at No12, bar perhaps the All Blacks who have Jordie Barrett, he has become the ultimate hybrid for South Africa. <\/p>\n
This year he has started wearing a replacement forward\u2019s jersey \u2014 either No20 or 21 \u2014 as part of Rassie Erasmus\u2019s innovative 7-1 and 6-2 benches. Aside from being the ultimate flex from the Springboks \u2014 who else would use one of the world\u2019s great midfielders as a spare forward? \u2014 it has afforded Esterhuizen a spot in the world\u2019s most dominant team.<\/p>\n
While part of the 2023 World Cup-winning squad, he did not feature in South Africa\u2019s three knockout matches \u2014 each of which they won by a single point. The 31-year-old has 29 caps but was barely selected for Test-match duty while dominating in the Gallagher Prem outside Marcus Smith with Harlequins, to the point where others investigated if he had any English heritage.<\/p>\n
However, Esterhuizen never wanted to play for a nation that was not his own. Now his patience has been rewarded as he has become the most fascinatingly versatile rugby player on the planet. <\/p>\n
Esterhuizen did initially try to play in the back-row as a 21-year-old, when World Cup-winning South African coach Jake White led the Sharks franchise team in Durban. The experiment did not last long.<\/p>\n
\u201cI played ten minutes there, went for a steal and they busted open my whole mouth so I said, \u2018No way,\u2019 \u201d Esterhuizen tells the Ruck podcast.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe second game I played 40 minutes and at that time when I was younger, my temper wasn\u2019t great. So I said to Jake, \u2018Listen, I can\u2019t be this close to contact the whole time. I need to either move back to centre or go off. I\u2019m going to get a red card or something.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Esterhuizen was part of the South Africa team that won the last World Cup but did not play in the three knockout rounds<\/p>\n
ADAM PRETTY\/GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n
It was during last year\u2019s United Rugby Championship season that Erasmus called and suggested a second go in the back row for Esterhuizen, who had worn No12 for the entire Sharks campaign. Other coaches have mused about hybrid players \u2014 Eddie Jones spoke about using England wing Jack Nowell as a flanker, Sekou Macalou has played in the backs and forwards for France, Ben Earl has moved to centre from No8 in Tests for England \u2014 but Erasmus has always been ahead of the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe asked, \u2018Am I open to this?\u2019 \u201d Esterhuizen says. \u201cI said to him, \u2018Definitely, if it gives me more opportunity and I can play more regularly, then obviously I\u2019ll do it.\u2019 \u201d He was first listed as a replacement forward for the 30-22 win over Australia in August, replacing the lock Franco Mostert after 66 minutes in Cape Town.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn a way you\u2019re surprised but you\u2019re also not surprised because you know something like that can happen, especially coming from them,\u201d he says. \u201cThe coaches are always innovative and thinking outside the box. You need to be innovative and you need to bring something new, an X factor or something else that other teams aren\u2019t doing or having. You\u2019ve got to be the first to beat the curve.\u201d<\/p>\n
Esterhuizen is still a little reluctant to call himself a forward, though. The Springbok mauling sessions he joins on Tuesdays are brutal.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe toughest thing is not the game, it\u2019s training against your own players,\u201d he says. \u201cEspecially if those guys make each other mad and rally each other up before training, it gets quite tough in there.<\/p>\n
\u201cTuesdays are the worst, when the mauling sessions are. It gets quite rough. At club level, I don\u2019t want to train that hard for the whole year. Luckily my hybrid role is mostly staying at the international level, not at club level.\u201d<\/p>\n
Esterhuizen\u2019s new value was proved during the autumn when South Africa had Lood de Jager and Mostert sent off against France and Italy respectively. Esterhuizen replaced the centre Damian de Allende in Paris, but packed down on the flank and provided a try in the stunning 32-17 win. Then in Italy, he came on for Edwill van der Merwe, the wing, after 26 minutes to shore up the pack which was down a man again.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho would have thought that we\u2019d get two red cards, and would need a flank and a 12 at the same time? It happened twice in a row,\u201d Esterhuizen says. \u201cIt was quite funny how it worked out. It\u2019s basically the perfect scenario for what they\u2019ve tried to do with me.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the chips were down, we always pitched up and took things to the next level. The character that the boys showed, to still stick in those games and take it through to the end, that\u2019s probably the biggest thing for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"South](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/\/44ef4110-6f29-4a28-87a8-0eb4396e5037.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Esterhuizen scores the Springboks\u2019 eighth try in their rout of Wales last month<\/p>\n
ANDREW BOYERS\/REUTERS<\/p>\n
Esterhuizen says the Springboks can beat teams any way they choose \u2014 \u201cWe can play an expansive game, we can play a tight game, we can play a physical game\u201d \u2014 and adds that the double world champions cannot wait to return to the Test game next July in Johannesburg against England. <\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone\u2019s looking forward to that,\u201d Esterhuizen says, grinning. \u201cI think everyone wished we played them this year. The Springboks also wished that.\u201d<\/p>\n
To put them in their place, you mean?<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re just looking forward to playing against them,\u201d he says, still smiling. \u201cThey\u2019ve been very consistent, have good players and a good coach and a good structure now.\u201d<\/p>\n
For now, Esterhuizen\u2019s Sharks lie in wait for Saracens this Saturday in the Investec Champions Cup. The Durban franchise are an odd team; they are full of Springbok players yet have won only one match all season, against the Scarlets.<\/p>\n
The Sharks sent their second team to be trounced 56-19 in France against Toulouse last Sunday, so they could target Saracens with their strongest outfit. Those who featured in Toulouse will only arrive home on Wednesday, so it made sense to split the line-ups. Logistics, once again, are proving an issue in the cross-hemisphere \u201cEuropean\u201d Cup. <\/p>\n
As a former Harlequin, who travelled to Cape Town and Durban for Champions Cup matches, Esterhuizen understands why fans find this frustrating.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey don\u2019t understand why we\u2019re sending teams like that over there, thinking we\u2019re not taking it seriously, but we actually are,\u201d he says. \u201cWe want to compete every weekend \u2014 the Champions Cup is probably the best club trophy to win, that\u2019s why we\u2019re targeting this game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Esterhuizen never beat Saracens while with Harlequins, but the English side face a tough task to get one over the Sharks in the December Durban tropics \u2014 especially with their hybrid hero involved.<\/p>\n
Round twoFriday, December 12
Leicester Tigers v Leinster (8pm)Saturday, December 13
Stormers v La Rochelle (1pm)
Sharks v Saracens (3.15pm)
Clermont Auvergne v Sale Sharks (3.15pm)
Bordeaux-B\u00e8gles v Scarlets (5.30pm)
Munster v Gloucester (5.30pm)
Glasgow Warriors v Toulouse (8pm)Sunday, December 14
Harlequins v Bayonne (1pm)
Castres v Edinburgh (1pm)
Toulon v Bath (3.15pm)
Northampton Saints v Bulls (3.15pm)
Bristol Bears v Pau (5.30pm)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Andr\u00e9 Esterhuizen may just be the most valuable player in rugby right now. An inside centre that every…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":307392,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-307391","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=307391"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307391\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/307392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=307391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=307391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=307391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}