{"id":715612,"date":"2026-07-28T15:36:07","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T15:36:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/715612\/"},"modified":"2026-07-28T15:36:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T15:36:07","slug":"eben-etzebeth-reveals-probably-the-worst-day-of-my-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/715612\/","title":{"rendered":"Eben Etzebeth reveals \u2018probably the worst day of my life\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eben Etzebeth has revealed the biggest disappointment of his record-breaking Springboks<\/a> career. The 141-cap second row has been playing Test rugby since 2012, and he is now hoping to be part of the squad that will attempt to win a third successive Rugby World Cup title next year.<\/p>\n

He has reflected on South Africa\u2019s back-to-back triumphs, nominating 2019 as the bigger success of the two as there was no expectation from fans when the team headed to Japan.<\/p>\n

However, away from all this success, there have also been difficult moments and the 34-year-old has nominated the aftermath of losing the 2015 semi-final to New Zealand as his worst day ever.<\/p>\n

Seated on a stage set up on the back pitch at the Sharks\u2019 Kings Park in Durban for the latest episode of Boks Unpacked, Etzebeth reflected on his stellar career in the company of former Springboks Jean de Villiers, Schalk Burger and Hanyani Shimange.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went to go and sit in one of the cubicles\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked to single out his greatest disappointment, Etzebeth chose a devastating loss from 11 years ago in England. \u201cI remember after that New Zealand<\/a> game losing 20-18 in the semi-final, I went to go and sit in one of the cubicles and it was probably the worst day of my life,\u201d he admitted.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s some other things in my life that also happened besides rugby, but that was my worst day. You work four years and it\u2019s gone like that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember we flew back, and I spoke to Jean (who was the squad\u2019s captain at the time) and I just told him I never want to feel this ever again and I will make sure I\u2019ll work harder, and the guys around me will also work harder.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is what I took out, just the disappointment of coming so close and two points and you\u2019re out. You can never get it back; you have to wait four years again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Victor Matfield\u2019s verdict on Siya Kolisi\u2019s Springboks future: \u2018With Rassie, everyone is under pressure to perform\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

Following that World Cup exit in 2015, Heyneke Meyer was succeeded as the coach by Allister Coetzee, who went on to have a few difficult years in charge before the baton was passed onto Erasmus in 2018. The rest, as they say, is history.<\/p>\n

Two World Cup triumphs later, and with plans afoot to try and complete an unprecedented hat-trick of title wins, Etzebeth explained the transformation that took place after Erasmus took charge of the Springboks<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe core of the group did stay, and I just think Rassie came in and got everyone aligned and believing in the plan. It wasn\u2019t my plan is better or this or that; the players just bought in.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd with the players, he always says you can be the best player, but it doesn\u2019t mean you are the right guy for the team. He doesn\u2019t always select the best players because he feels he might not be the right thing for the team at the moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo he got that right and the guys bought in and the Springboks became special again. We were willing to go into dark places to get victories and to get results where in the past it was almost like you were just happy to be a Bok, \u2018I\u2019m a Bok and I\u2019m wearing my Springbok jersey and I am quite cool now\u2019. But he got that belief and that hunger and excitement back.<\/p>\n

Ex-All Blacks boss Steve Hansen welcomes \u2018slight change in refs\u2019 attitude\u2019 but highlights area where \u2018we have to find a way to be more competitive\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIf you don\u2019t buy in, it doesn\u2019t matter who you are; you are not going to get a fine of a couple of thousand rand or stuff like that, you are not going to get selected and it hurts. Playing for the Boks for most South Africans, that is the best you can do; you can\u2019t go further than that, so he just won\u2019t select you.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is one attribute, and then the team he has got around him, the work ethic they have and how they look at opposition.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know if you watch Prison Break, there is a guy called Michael Scofield, and he was always one step ahead of the police man Alex Mahone. He [Mahone] always thought he was going to catch him and then he [Scofield] was already one step ahead and I feel that\u2019s the way Rassie<\/a> is the way he does things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked to pick which World Cup success was his most memorable, Etzebeth put the triumph in Japan ahead of the success four years later in France<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as\u00a0a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a>\u00a0for world-class coverage you can trust.<\/p>\n

\u201c2019 was probably bigger; it was the first time and that\u2019s your ultimate goal as a rugby player, to win a World Cup. 2023, it was almost as if people in South Africa expected it a bit more. In 2019 they weren\u2019t expecting to win and in terms of 2023 it was just go and do it again.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat was nice for me, I didn\u2019t know my wife in 2019, but I shared 2023 with her; she was there and she was pregnant with our first daughter. Obviously, in 2023 my dad wasn\u2019t there anymore but he got to see 2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo each one has got its own things, but both were so special. It\u2019s the top of the mountain when you play rugby to win a World Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Dave Rennie dubs Rassie Erasmus as the \u2018most innovative coach\u2019 and hails the \u2018unbelievable job\u2019 done with \u2018phenomenal\u2019 Springboks<\/a><\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Eben Etzebeth has revealed the biggest disappointment of his record-breaking Springboks career. The 141-cap second row has been…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":715613,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[55680,348,3482,50,5903,4247,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-715612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-eben-etzebeth","tag-home-page","tag-internationals","tag-news","tag-rugby","tag-south-africa","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/715612","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=715612"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/715612\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/715613"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=715612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=715612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=715612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}