Springbok enforcers Bakkies Botha and Eben Etzebeth could not be separated on an SARugbymag.co.za poll to determine the ultimate enforcer.

The two locks recently locked horns in the media, as Botha said he was disappointed that Etzebeth had failed to live up to his reputation for the same team that Botha represented while on duty in France.

Etzebeth, who will be leaving Toulon for the Sharks at the end of the season, responded on Twitter by saying: “Noted. Next time you want to ENFORCE an opinion, you’ve got my number.”

Botha is a giant of South African rugby, capped 85 times by the Springboks, and boasts a glittering rugby CV that includes Rugby World Cup, Tri-Nations, Lions Series, Super 14, Currie Cup, Top 14 and Heineken Cup trophies.

Meanwhile, Etzebeth put in a mammoth shift for the Boks in 2021 that put him on the shortlist for SA Rugby’s MVP award in the year they won a series against the British & Irish Lions and topped the All Blacks in Gold Coast. Also a World Cup and Currie Cup winner, Etzebeth is only three Tests away from becoming South Africa’s seventh centurion.

The poll asked readers to pick an ultimate Bok enforcer but such is the quality of both heavy-hitters that thousands of voters across the spectrum could not separate them, and Botha and Etzebeth finished deadlocked.

Photo: Duif du Toit/Gallo Images