Andre Esterhuizen says he’s wanting ahead to operating at former Harlequins teammate Marcus Smith when the Springboks deal with England at Twickenham on Saturday.
The Springbok midfield enforcer spent 4 seasons taking part in alongside Smith in England, with the duo combining to assist Harlequins win the Premiership in 2021.
Saturday night time’s match will see Esterhuizen, who got here again to the Sharks in September, return to Twickenham and are available up in opposition to England’s backline magician for the primary time in his profession.
“It’s a fantastic house, I clearly like to play there,” Esterhuizen advised the BBC’s Rugby Union Weekly podcast. “It will likely be nice to be operating at Marcus, not run off him.
“It’s going to be a fantastic match, England have performed effectively in the previous few video games, it’s unlucky that it hasn’t been the outcomes that they need. I believe it’s going to be an enormous one.”
Esterhuizen began the Springboks’ November tour-opening victory over Scotland at Murrayfield, as Rassie Erasmus fielded a heavily-changed facet for the match.
Regardless of benching captain Siya Kolisi and flanker Pieter-Steph du Toit, the Springboks shrugged off an error-strewn efficiency to assert a 32-15 victory.
“One of many good issues is that everybody is getting recreation time now,” Esterhuizen, who performed as an alternative of normal inside centre Damian de Allende, mentioned. “It it additionally about wanting ahead, you’ve received to have the ability to spare all the blokes for the following World Cup and construct expertise into it.
“The intention is to have the 2 finest groups on the earth, multi functional squad. We wish to make it second nature for individuals slotting in, so if somebody steps in, they will simply slot in and play the identical if not higher than the opposite participant.”
Picture: Steve Haag Sports activities/Gallo Photographs