All Black Codie Taylor reacts to ‘warrior’ Eben Etzebeth’s dramatic return

All Blacks hooker Codie Taylor expected Springboks “warrior” Eben Etzebeth to play this weekend’s Test at Ellis Park. It’s the narrative that dominated the first half of the Test week, with Etzebeth overcoming a niggle after initially being left out of the Springboks’ 23.

Etzebeth has started the last 22 Tests between the Springboks and All Blacks, but that record is set to come to an end. The two-time Rugby World Cup winner was originally scrubbed out with a knee injury, and that was a major talking point in the lead-up to the Test.

Assistant coach Deon Davids sparked discussion by revealing the injury news at a press conference on Monday before clarifying the team were still awaiting advice from medical staff. But on Tuesday, Etzebeth was left out of the matchday 23 completely, although not all hope was lost.

Rassie Erasmus suggested that Etzebeth could still play against the All Blacks at Johannesburg’s Ellis Park, but the Boks would need to see how the lock pulled up after training. It seems everything went to plan for the two-time world champion lock in that session.

Etzebeth was cleared to play by the Springboks on Wednesday afternoon. The 124-Test veteran comes onto the bench as a replacement for Marco van Staden, while Pieter-Steph du Toit and Ruan Nortje have retained their spots in the starting lineup.

“I thought he’d play anyway. He’s a bit of a warrior that man and he’ll do anything to represent his country and we saw that last year when we played in New Zealand after obviously some pretty devastating news,” Taylor told reporters on Thursday.

“He loves his country, obviously, and wants to be out there so good on him.”

Etzebeth hasn’t come off the pine for the Springboks since their 63-21 win over Italy on November 19, 2022. That’s a run of more than 13 Test starts in a row, which includes last year’s 12-11 win over the All Blacks in the Rugby World Cup Final.

The hulking second rower will embody a relatively new role, then, as part of the Springboks’ world-famous ‘bomb squad’ on the bench. Coach Erasmus has named six forwards on the bench, including 69-Test veteran Malcolm Marx and youngster Elrigh Louw.

If history is anything to go by – as last year’s two meetings at Twickenham at Stade de France showed – then this will be a highly physical bout between two heavyweights of Test rugby. It always is when these two passionate nations meet on the rugby field of battle.

But then there's the unknown factor. With South African teams no longer playing in Super Rugby, it's quite rare to see these playing groups take on one another at any level.

“I don’t miss the feeling of playing them afterwards,” Taylor quipped.

“It was always unique coming over here and also just playing them, it’s a different brand of footy. I feel like they’ve evolved now and they are playing a lot more attacking rugby now.

“It will be a special experience for some of our new boys that haven’t been over here but I think that’s exciting. It’s where you want to play against the best in the world.”