Eben Etzebeth said the Sharks have let themselves and their fans down this season, and expects more physicality from the team against Ulster in Durban on Saturday.
When the Vodacom URC resumes again this week, the Sharks will head into round 12 at the bottom of the log despite a squad loaded with Springboks and head coach John Plumtree under pressure to bring back the glory days back to Kings Park.
Etzebeth, who became only the second player to win back-to-back SA Rugby Player of the Year awards last week, has not played a competitive match since 13 January following knee surgery.
Speaking in a Sharks conference on Tuesday, the Bok centurion acknowledged that the Durbanites have not been up to scratch in the 2023-24 URC, with the onus on the returning players to help raise the standards.
“We haven’t had a good season so far. There are no excuses really. I think we just need to take a hard look at ourselves as individuals and as a collective,” he told reporters. “I do think we work hard and there are plans in place.
“But somehow we are not executing it. We really hope to rectify it for the rest of the season. We can get better in certain aspects and it’s not a player or coaching thing, it’s us as a union. Everyone just needs to step up and we need to be better.
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“We as forwards, we have a big job and responsibility to step-up in the physical department. I think we haven’t been great so far in our set-pieces this year.”“As South Africans we love that battle and I just feel at the moment we are letting ourselves down and we are letting the Sharks supporters down with what we produce on match day. I think we can be a bit more physical on the field,” Etzebeth added.
“It is the first time this season that we’ve got most of our players playing. As a collective it’s probably the strongest 23 we could’ve picked so far.
“It will be a boost to have everyone back. It’s still a work in progress, we still have to put it out on the field. It’s easy to think about names coming back, but at the end of the day it’s what happens on Saturday that counts.”
The 32-year-old lock is a frontrunner to lead the Boks against Wales at Twickenham on 22 June with Siya Kolisi unavailable, and has targeted Saturday’s clash at the Shark Tank for his long-awaited comeback.
“I’ve been struggling with my knee for quite a while. It’s been going on since even before the World Cup so I had to fix it up sometime and I think it was the perfect break,” he said.
“It was definitely the right time now and I just missed two local derbies. It already feels better than before the op [operation] so that’s a positive.”
Photo: Steve Haag Sports/INPHO/Shutterstock
The post Etzebeth: No more excuses for Sharks appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.
Src: sarugbymag.co.za
