EBEN FEELS THE PRESSURE

Calls are growing for the Bok lock to be sent home from Japan to face the music over allegations of violence and racist abuse.

A MESS. That’s the best way to describe the furore swirling around the lofty lock – and it’s refusing to go away.

Racial slurs, barroom brawls, two men left bleeding on the street after allegedly being pistol-whipped – since all the sordid allegations came to light, many have found it difficult to cheer for Eben Etzebeth as the Boks strive for glory in Japan.

Tales have also emerged that the towering sportsman, who’s more than two metres tall and weighs 123kg, and his friends were part of a gang known as the Wolf Pack which conducted a reign of terror in the small West Coast town of Langebaan.

Calls are growing for the 27-year-old cornerstone of the Bok scrum to come home and clear his name. Surely, given SA’s fraught history, the importance of addressing the allegations should trump everything, they say.

Clearly the controversy has affected Etzebeth. In the days leading up to the Boks’ crucial quarterfinal clash with Japan, he announced he’d be taking legal action against the South African HumanRights Commission (SAHRC).

He wants the high court in Johan nesburg to review the commission’s decision to take the matter involving the so-called “Langebaan Four” to the equality court.

We unpack what’s been going on.

THE CLAIMS AGAINST HIM

An altercation was alleged to have taken place in the early hours outside Langebaan drinking hole Die Watergat.

Etzebeth had been partying with a group of about 15 people, including his brother Ryen, in August ahead of his departure for the world cup.