Springboks shut down questions over Andre Esterhuizen controversy ahead of Wallabies Test
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Shut down.
The Springboks shut down questions surrounding new captain Andre Esterhuizen after a controversial incident from his schoolboy career resurfaced ahead of Sunday’s Test against Australia in Perth.
Esterhuizen will become the 68th player to captain South Africa after Rassie Erasmus made 13 changes to the starting XV that beat the All Blacks in Baltimore.
However, his appointment has come under scrutiny in South Africa following renewed attention on an incident dating back to 2012.
As an 18-year-old playing for Klerksdorp High School, Esterhuizen was found guilty of directing a racial slur at Thabo Molete, who was then first-team coach at Potchefstroom Gymnasium and also coached the Leopards’ Grant Khomo side.
Ahead of Saturday’s Springbok press conference, media manager Zeena Isaacs told journalists that Esterhuizen would not be answering questions about the reports.
“Guys, just in advance, we are not dealing with the issue of the articles that are going around on social media and all sorts of things, so can I ask that you please stick to the game and ensure that all questions are game-related as opposed to all those other news articles that are going on around in South Africa. So please respect that,” she said.
According to IOL Sport, when a journalist subsequently attempted to raise the issue with Esterhuizen, Isaacs intervened and reiterated that questions on the matter would not be answered.
Esterhuizen instead spoke about the honour of captaining the Springboks for the first time.
“I’m just going out with the captaincy role, but it’s still all about the team. We’ve got so many leaders that help each other. And ultimately, it’s what we all do together on the field.
“We play together, whether I’m talking, Eben’s talking, Siya’s talking… Yeah, so I’m taking it on as an honour, and I’m very happy about it, but ultimately, we’re all together as a team.”
Erasmus handed Esterhuizen the captaincy with regular skipper Siya Kolisi, Pieter-Steph du Toit and Jesse Kriel all absent from the team to face the Wallabies.
The Springbok boss has said the decision is also part of expanding South Africa’s leadership group ahead of the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia.
