When Andre Esterhuizen moved to Harlequins from the Sharks back in 2020, not many people - including himself - grasped how significant that switch would become.
Despite becoming one of the Durbanites' most reliable performers - he proved a perfect, if somewhat less subtle, foil for midfield partner Lukhanyo Am - there was a sense that the man from Klerksdorp was merely maximising his earning potential while continuing to terrorise defences with his bombastic darts.
Yet so incisive and compelling has his development at Twickenham Stoop been that he quickly transformed from merely being Andre 'The Giant', a testament to his huge 1.92m, 110kg frame, to the "Agent of Chaos".
It's a tag befitting of a man who has become one of the English Premiership's elite players in possession of an envious combo of relentless relish for contact and wizardry.
On Tuesday, Esterhuizen was reunited with Am in the Springbok's midfield for the Rugby Championship opener against Australia at Loftus this weekend, safe in the knowledge that his detractors are far less than four years ago.
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"I didn't think the move to England would be so important in terms of my career," he said at the team's base in Pretoria."Where I came from, we attack all day long, so we just play attacking rugby. So that experience developed a whole new part of my game. As a person, I play a different kind of game, and since I’ve been there, I now think differently about the game."It has improved my game significantly and, if I look back, it was really important for the development in my career."
Ironically, Esterhuizen's status in England and Europe hasn't translated into a substantial increase in
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