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Toulon statement: Eben Etzebeth to be released
By Rugby365
Toulon announced that Springbok superstar Eben Etzebeth will be leaving the club at the end of the current season.
According to a statement on the club’s website, Etzebeth will be released early from his contract to return to South Africa for personal reasons.
“Aware of the difficulties encountered by the player, Toulon took note of this request and accepted it,” said the club.
In the statement, Etzebeth said: “I am sad to have to leave Toulon and my teammates at the end of the season but personal reasons force me to do so.
“Toulon and its supporters welcomed me… I have the will to give everything with this team until the end of the season, to allow Toulon to perform, to move up in the standings and to be ambitious in the Challenge Cup.”
In an interview with TimesLive, Sharks CEO Eduard Coetzee said they are looking to sign Etzebeth but admitted things are “a little complicated” when it comes to the 30-year-old.
“We are looking at lock. We would love to get him, but he is on a big contract so he’ll have to get out of his contract and be prepared to take a substantial salary cut,” Coetzee told TimesLive.
“Jeepers, his salary at Toulon is almost a third of the salary cap in SA.
“I think Eben might get out. We are discussing this with his representatives and we are trying to push this to an end.
“We have to stay within our means. We can’t put things at risk because of an emotional decision. It depends how badly he wants to come back to SA. I think he is contracted until the Rugby World Cup.”
In January, Toulon president Bernard Lemaître labelled Etzebeth as a ‘handicap’ due to the lock being expensive and often unavailable through injury and international commitments.
In an interview with the newspaper Var-matin, Lemaître addressed Toulon’s issues regarding player recruitment ahead of the 2022/2023 season and took aim at Etzebeth.
“There is a double problem in recruiting: the salary cap and the JIFFs [French-reared players],” Lemaître said at the time.
“You can’t do just anything, so I pay special attention to the situation of internationals because they can be an opportunity or a handicap.
“In this case, players like Eben Etzebeth and Facundo Isa are a clear handicap for the club.”
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Latest Comments
Nah, that just needs some more variation. Chip kicks, grubber stabs, all those. Will Jordan showed a pretty good reason why the rush was bad for his link up with BB.
If you have an overlap on a rush defense, they naturally cover out and out and leave a huge gap near the ruck.
It also helps if both teams play the same rules. ARs set the offside line 1m past where the last mans feet were😅
Go to commentsYeah nar, should work for sure. I was just asking why would you do it that way?
It could be achieved by outsourcing all your IP and players to New Zealand, Japan, and America, with a big Super competition between those countries raking it in with all of Australia's best talent to help them at a club level. When there is enough of a following and players coming through internally, and from other international countries (starting out like Australia/without a pro scene), for these high profile clubs to compete without a heavy australian base, then RA could use all the money they'd saved over the decades to turn things around at home and fund 4 super sides of their own that would be good enough to compete.
That sounds like a great model to reset the game in Aus. Take a couple of decades to invest in youth and community networks before trying to become professional again. I just suggest most aussies would be a bit more optimistic they can make it work without the two decades without any pro club rugby bit.
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