Joe Marler takes swipe at Eben Etzebeth during rant

Speaking on the , Marler was invited to take part in a knockout-style bracket featuring some of the game’s most physical forwards from 2008 onwards.

When pitted against French cult hero Sébastien Chabal, Marler was particularly outspoken about Botha, branding him one of the game’s most feared—and controversial—figures.

“He has got to be up there with one of the dirtiest players going,” Marler said.

“Massive unit, filthy, punching, headbutts, elbows. Did he ever get done for gouging? Probably never got caught, but probably did it.”

He added that while Botha was intimidating, his reputation in Marler’s eyes went beyond legitimate physicality.

“Chabal wasn’t ever dirty, was he? He would melt people. He was horrible.

“Bakkies would strike fear into any opposition, both teams in fact.

“It’s tough because you go ‘Well, he’s a thug, an out-and-out thug’. That’s what he played his game on just melting people but not legally.

“He wasn’t really a world-class rugby player, he was a world-class thug and was part of world-class teams.

“Was I scared of Bakkies? Yeah, I was always scared of him.”

Marler also turned his attention to current Springboks powerhouse Eben Etzebeth, who he compared unfavourably to former All Blacks enforcer Brad Thorn in the same bracket.

“He does a lot of what I used to do,” Marler said of Etzebeth.

“All fight, no poo. Fake tough guy for me. It’s exactly what I used to do, fake tough guy.”