Eben Etzebeth has played more Test matches for South Africa than any player in the country’s history.
He overtook Victor Matfield’s long-standing record of 127 caps in 2024 and has since pushed his total beyond 140, a tally that keeps climbing.
A towering lock who stands over two metres tall, Etzebeth has been a fixture in the Springbok engine room for well over a decade.
Many South African rugby fans who enjoy online sports betting will know him as one of the most physically imposing forwards in the world game.
In this article, we reflect on the career of South Africa’s record-breaking second row.
Eben Etzebeth’s Springbok debut and rise
Etzebeth made his Springbok debut against England in 2012 at the age of 20, having come through at Western Province in Cape Town.
He quickly established himself as a first-choice lock, valued for his physical presence and his work in the lineout.
By his early 20s, he was a fixture in a Springbok engine room that prized size and aggression.
He has gone on to play under a succession of coaches, missing only a small fraction of South Africa’s rugby matches in that time.
Two Rugby World Cups and a Lions series win
Etzebeth has been part of two World Cup-winning squads, in 2019 and 2023, playing a major role in the Springbok packs that ground out tight knockout games.
He started in both finals, against England in Yokohama and New Zealand in Paris.
He has become a symbol of the Springboks’ set-piece power, the platform on which their two recent world titles were built.
He was also in the side that beat the British and Irish Lions in a 2021 series on home soil.
Few forwards have a trophy haul to match his.
Breaking the Springbok Test cap record
In September 2024, Etzebeth became South Africa’s most-capped player when he made his 128th Test appearance against Argentina, overtaking Matfield.
He led the team out to a standing ovation in Mbombela, accompanied by his family rather than running on alone, a break from Springbok tradition that reflected what the moment meant to those watching.
A forward at the peak of his powers, eyeing 150 caps
Etzebeth has continued to add to his record and remains a central figure for the Springboks, who returned to the top of the world rankings 9during his career.
Following the conclusion of the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series against the All Blacks in Baltimore, Etzebeth extended his record as South Africa’s most-capped player of all time to 146 Test caps.
He was named South Africa’s Rugby Player of the Year in both 2022 and 2023, recognition of his form in the second row well into his thirties.
He is now on course to become the first Springbok to reach 150 Test caps. His durability has been striking, the lock rarely missing a match since his debut.
For all the records, Etzebeth’s value has always been in the physical edge he gives his side.
Matfield, the man whose record he broke, rated him among the best Springboks ever to play the game, and he stands in a proud lineage of South African locks at the heart of the most successful era in the country’s rugby.
