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Eben Etzebeth issues statement following assault accusations
By Online Editors
Eben Etzebeth has issued a statement following an accusation that he assaulted a man in the Langebaan area of Cape Town.
The Springbok and Stormers lock has been accused of racially abusing and attacking a man.
On Sunday a video and accusations made the rounds via social media, alleging Etzebeth assaulted and pointed a gun at a homeless man in Langebaan.
He is alleged to have used the racial slur 'hotnots' which is a derivative of the term 'Hottentot', an archaic term.
However, Etzebeth took to Facebook to refute the claims and deny any wrongdoing. The Bok labelled the incident as ‘untrue’ and echoed his love for ‘rainbow nation’.
The statement reads:
"It is completely untrue and unfounded to claim that I physically or racially abused anyone in Langebaan as has been reported on social media. Multiple witnesses can corroborate that."
"I am and will always strive to be a true ambassador to this beautiful rainbow nation and the sport that I love."
It's been a rocky few days for the Springboks, with star winger Aphiwe Dyantyi testing positive for a banned substance.
In a media statement issued on Saturday via his agent Gert van der Merwe, the soon-to-be 25-year-old denied any wrongdoing.
“I want to deny ever taking any prohibited substance, intentionally or negligently, to enhance my performance on the field. I believe in hard work and fair play. I have never cheated and never will,” he wrote.
“The presence of this prohibited substance in my body has come as a massive shock to me and together with my management team and experts appointed by them, we are doing everything we can to get to the source of this and to prove my innocence.
“As a professional sportsman on national and international level we get tested on a regular basis. I have been tested before and again since this test. It is part of the job and we all know that each and every player is bound to get tested at least two to four times a year.
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Latest Comments
Steve Borthwick appointment was misguided based on two flawed premises.
1. An overblown sense of the quality of the premiership rugby. The gap between the Premiership and Test rugby is enormous
2. England needed an English coach who understood English Rugby and it's traditional strengths.
SB won the premiership and was an England forward and did a great job with the Japanese forwards but neither of those qualify you as a tier 1 test manager.
Maybe Felix Jones and Aled Walter's departures are down to the fact that SB is a details man, which work at club level but at test level you need the manager to manage and let the coaches get on and do what they are employed for.
SB criticism of players is straight out of Eddie Jones playbook but his loyalty to keeping out of form players borne out of his perceived sense of betrayal as a player.
In all it doesn't stack up as the qualities needed to be a modern Test coach /Manager
Go to commentsBut still Australians. Only Australia can help itself seems to be the key message.
Blaming Kiwis is deflecting from the actual problem.
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