After Saturday’s titanic battle against the All Blacks, Springboks assistant coach Daan Human joked that Pieter-Steph du Toit may be an option at prop after playing multiple positions at Ellis Park.
After the Springboks suffered a massive crisis at lock, the flank was asked to pack down in the second row alongside rookie Ruan Nortje.
Du Toit, who played lock earlier in this career, had played No 5 lock in the Test match against the Wallabies in Perth after RG Snyman’s later withdrawal. But now he had to play No 4, which is a bit different in terms of the physicality and being a lot closer to the action in terms of carrying and cleaning.
But during the match he had to switch to flank after Ben-Jason Dixon was substituted. He then finished the game at No 5 after Nortje went off for blood.
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The Springboks' Pieter-Steph du Toit!
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Du Toit ended up getting the man-of-the-match award for another fine performance in which he carried, tackled, cleaned, scrummed and mauled. It was a performance that not just summed up the player’s unbelievable ability as a rugby star, but also the selfness nature of the man.
Nobody will ever forget his performance in the Rugby World Cup final in France last year, when he made an astonishing 28 tackles. He is just an indefatigable monster in a Springbok jersey, and will one day go down as a South African rugby legend.
"The nice thing about Pieter-Steph du Toit is that he plays No 4, No 5 and No 7... maybe he's not ready for prop yet, but we'll work on that. And I'm not sure if he still knows whether he's Pieter-Steph or Steph-Pieter," said Human with a rather dry grin.
"He adds a lot of value with his versatility, and I don't think he cares what jersey he puts on ... even if he plays off the bench, it doesn't matter, he just wants to play.
“It's inspiring to watch a guy playing like that. It's really nice ... and he's always learning, he always wants to get better.”
Du Toit is a great example for the young players in the squad looking to make their mark in the Springboks side.
He is a warrior.
The Springboks often say they don’t play for themselves, but for the ordinary South African on the street. Nobody epitomises that better than Du Toit.
“Like coach Daan said, it's just the manner in which he conducts himsel f... and how he just accepts playing any position on the field,” said No 8 Elrigh Louw, one of the newbies in the Springboks’ set-up.
“It's not a massive burden for him to play at No 4, No 5, No 7 or whatever the position he has to play on the day It's a big example for us as young players ... to not scoff at performing a specific role on the day for the team."
@JohnGoliath82