André Esterhuizen

Mm.

You could take Andre Esterhuizen and start him in that seven jersey, which is basically their equivalent of the blindside-

Peter de, yep, de Villiers is another one.

Yeah, de Villiers is another one as well.

Um, Pieter-Steph du Toit playing captain, kind of looked at as a mistake.

Guys like Andre Esterhuizen, uh, now considered to be absolutely part of the, the vision, but then sort of like, "Mm, I don't know about you." Boks getting charged down three times in goal area to lose the match.

Ranked number eighth.

Taking over from a bad team and making it worse.

Not for all countries.

I don't like that.

Um, Andre Esterhuizen, an absolute unit.

Nice guy too.

I would've thought.

Because we got ch- told Josh Mo'unga's defense wasn't good enough in test one when he was run over by Andre Esterhuizen.

Yeah.

And then Leroy Carter comes in, and his defense wasn't good enough in the last game.

Over the ball are the Springboks.

Esterhuizen with the turnover.

They just need to kick it out.

[whistle blowing] The Boks are back.

And then you bring the bomb squad on, and if New Zealand wants to chase you down, you've gotta go, okay, play against Dion Free, Cameron Hanrahan, maybe Malcolm's still on there.

Andre Esterhuizen, the bomb squad was so effective.

Lood de Jager.

Um, we mustn't even throw, you know, Morne van der Berg.

So if you look at this, Cameron Hanekom, if he was in the first half, would've just put Damian McKenzie down and he would've been cleaned.

He actually does a fight.

And to compound that, Andre Esterhuizen takes the first cleaner and battles it.

Moves the ruck.

And how he ended was with the mantle of best 12 in the world.

Yeah, I mean, you only have to talk to Andre, like you said, about who's the player he enjoys playing with the most.

And he'll tell you it's Damien.

I think that guy's body of work talks for itself.

I think for a guy like Mane to come out of playing in the Japanese second division and then perform as he did throughout the series, like against England, against the All Blacks, it's just exceptional.

I do wonder who comes in at 12 and 13 in terms of a combination.

Is it Andre the Giant as a specialist 12, something happens? Or do they look at an Ethan Hooker at 13, Kanan Moody? It's been there and thereabouts.

So I wouldn't say that anyone just came in from left field and lit it up.

I mean, Kwagga Smith obviously with a sevens background could do it.

Uh, and obviously we're seeing it now with Esterhuizen.

Um, but I, I just don't see New Zealand necessarily following that path.

Only the big guys have stood up.

My heart says I'd love to see the All Blacks win it and, and, and that they might, but my head tells me that the Springboks have the momentum now.

Mmm.

I think had the All Blacks managed to snatch an equalizing try, and again, that's that, that word if, but they were looking really good till Esterhuizen made the...

Just a, a bit isolated, uh, it was Jordan, wasn't it? And he pounced But they were building something, and they had a chance to snatch a draw in that second test.

the team change.

Like, I was going, "Malcolm's gonna go deep, pl- uh, play as long as he can." And then when the All Blacks do start chasing us down, like they tried to do on the weekend, then you've got Dion Phiri, Malcolm Marx, uh, Cameron Hanekom, uh, Andre Esterhuizen-

Yes, Andre

... all on the field.