FILE - Pieter-Steph du Toit became the first Springbok to win the World Rugby Player of the Year award for a second time last week in 2024.
Image: Ayanda Ndamane / Independent Newspapers
The Springboks' "Mr Indefatigable" Pieter-Steph de Toit will get an enforced break after undergoing shoulder surgery.
Du Toit is set to miss almost the entire Japan Rugby League One season because of the injury. Toyota Verblitz director of rugby Steve Hansen recently confirmed the bad news in an interview.
“Big Piet’s not here at the moment, he hurt his shoulder in the November series so he just went under the knife last Friday. He could be out for the whole season, so it’s a bit disappointing,” Hansen said on Sport Nation’s Beaver & Guy show.
Du Toit was quoted over the weekend, saying the surgery went well, but he doesn’t know when he will be back. However, Rapport reported that Du Toit could be back by the end of May if his rehabilitation goes well.
If Du Toit is back at the end of May, he will have just over a month to get rugby fit ahead of the Springboks first home Test against Italy on July 5.
The Boks may even decide to use the two Tests against Italy and the one-off match against Georgia to get Du Toit match-fit for the Rugby Championship, which include a blockbuster two-match tour of New Zealand, where the Rassie Erasmus’ men will take on the All Blacks in Auckland and Wellington.
For now, though, Du Toit will get a chance to rest his body after almost non-stop rugby over the last couple of years since winning back-to-back Rugby World Cup with the Boks.
While Erasmus managed to rotate heavily in 2023, Du Toit was a constant in the Bok line-up because of the injury crisis at lock, where shouldered some of the workload in the absence of players such as RG Snyman, Lood de Jager and Franco Mostert. He even started one match at No 4 against the All Blacks in Johannesburg.
Du Toit has one of the biggest engines in rugby and his work-rate is second to none. His 28 tackles in the 2023 World Cup final will go down as one of the great individual performances in a Springboks jersey.
He then followed that up with a magnificent 2024 that saw him being crowned World Rugby Player of the Year. But at 32 years of age, the Springboks also need to manage his minutes as they approach the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia, because he is still such an influential player and leader in the team.
The shoulder injury is a blow, and no rugby player likes to be on the sidelines and not contributing to their team, but over the next few months Du Toit can just work on his rehabilitation and getting mentally and physically fresh for the challenges ahead, which also include November tour matches against France and Ireland.
@JohnGoliath82