KEO News Wire

STECO Power Tool Hero doubles up as a winner

The Junior Boks are proving a hybrid of power and precision in the Sanzaar under 20 Rugby Championship.

Published

6 months ago

6th May 2026

Keo

For the first time the STECO Hybrid Power Tool Hero of the Week is a back-to-back winner.

Keo and Zels, each week, pick a player whose contribution is the very definition of a Hybrid Power Tool.

Springboks and Sharks centre Andre Esterhuizen, is STECO’S rugby ambassador. He is the ultimate Hybrid Player.

Keo: Zels, from everything you saw this weekend, who makes it?

Zels: Mama, there goes that man again. Ethan Adams.

The Junior Boks beat Australia. Last week, they beat Argentina and he stepped one guy and ran through four more to score.

This week he showed he isn’t just a power guy. He gets the ball in the second half, off the back of a lineout, runs into space, steps the winger and beats the last man with his feet. Nobody even laid a hand on him.

He’s 1.75m and 110kg and he’s rounding guys with his feet. He is a proper athlete.

If you want your kid to be a good rugby player, name him Ethan. Ethan Hooker, Ethan van der Merwe, Ethan Bester and now Ethan Adams.

Keo: I loved the performance of Jalibert for Bordeaux in their Investec Champions Cup semi-final win against Bath. He did everything, he was the ultimate hybrid power tool, and could easily be a STECO international ambassador. He did led in nearly every individual facet.

He was almost double the next player on either side in metres made, 20 carries, four offloads, defenders beaten, tackles, kicks, passes and those are the tangibles. He was brilliant, but given our bias we always look to home first and young Mr Adams was as as destructive as a bulldozer, but at times as fluent and effortless as a ballerina. Simply, the perfect hybrid.

*The Junior Boks beat Australia 56-17, having beaten Argentina 48-21. They play New Zealand in the final match on Saturday to be crowned Sanzaar’s under 20 Rugby Championship winners.

New Zealand, who beat Australia in the opening round, lost to Argentina.

The Junior Boks are the current under 20 world champions.