MALMESBURY MISSILE: Pieter-Steph's 100 caps built on pain and determination

It was way back in 2015 when in a sit down interview with Pieter-Steph du Toit I posed the question that many Sharks administrators wanted me to ask.

It was an awkward question - Du Toit had been on a long injury break and had signed for the Stormers, and there were suggestions in KZN that he had simply bided his time to leave the Coastal side to move to the Cape. Closer to home, closer to where he wanted to be.

But the young Du Toit, just 23 then looking a lot younger, chuckled. He laughed off the suggestion and thought it was funny. He wasn’t a player who would do that, he told me. His work ethic was too good.

So it does bring a wry smile to my face when knowing the same baby faced, chiseled-blond destroyer is celebrating his 100th test match for the Springboks on Saturday against the All Blacks.

The next Springbok centurion 💯

13 years on from his debut against Wales, Pieter-Steph du Toit will become the second flanker to reach the milestone 🇿🇦📈#SSRugby | #RugbysGreatestRivalry pic.twitter.com/WroSdAoOQF — SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) August 25, 2026

Because say what you want, work ethic is never a consideration for any topic around the flanker whenever he is mentioned.

Well, unless, of course, you were referring to the machine he has become on the field.

This was, of course, thanks to a miraculous recovery in 2015 from an Anterior Cruciate Ligament tear that allowed him to make it into the World Cup squad, something unheard of at the time that prompted the rumours of his injury not being as bad as first thought.

But there is a story behind that as well. And it comes a bit further down

ONE OF THE GREATS

It isn’t surprising that when the annals of this century of rugby are written sometime in the future when we are long gone, the name Pieter-Steph du Toit will have a celebrated part in them.

Many of us were too young to know Frik du Preez’s exploits but hearing from those who did witness his play, there are many similarities. Du Preez did just about everything that Du Toit does, but he kicked for posts as well.

That is still something that Du Toit needs to master, although that may well be pushing it too far this late in his career.

Still, if you had to ask any neutral to rank the Bok players in this first quarter century, you would be hard to find someone who doesn’t rank Du Toit close to the top of that list, if not at the top.

The reason is simple. There are few players the world over who have such an engine, are so consistent in their play and have such a high standard that the rest of the world sits up to take notice.

The young blond kid from Riebeek-Kasteel is one of them. And one of the best.

Consider the fact he has won not one, but two World Rugby Player of the year awards - and easily could have had more.

The consistency is astounding - Du Toit averages 14 tackles a game in internationals, with few players even coming close to that consistency over the length of time he has been in the game.

If there was a Mount Rushmore for Bok players, it would be very, very difficult to keep Du Toit’s face off it.

Du Toit is an anomaly in the modern game, combining the engine of an openside flanker who goes full tilt for 80 minutes with the aerial prowess of a two metre lock. The word hybrid player may be used a lot in modern rugby, but Du Toit was the early prototype of that type of player.

But it wasn’t always so.

Du Toit has suffered some bad injuries and the fact that he is still on the field is often a combination of determination, grit and some amazing modern medical science that has given the Springboks this great player.

STORMERS DOCTOR INTERVENTION

The grandson of Springbok icon Piet “Spiere” du Toit, Riebeek-Kasteel’s favourite son almost didn’t make it this far, but thanks to the intervention of the Stormers’ doctor Jason Suter, Du Toit survived the possibility of having his leg amputated back in 2020.

In a Super Rugby game against the Blues, Du Toit had what looked like a minor leg injury, which turned serious incredibly fast and thanks to quick work by the medical officials he was able to recover, rather than have his leg amputated.

“He had a medical emergency after the Blues game. He had a haematoma that developed into an acute compartment syndrome. It’s incredibly rare – there have been only 43 (cases) listed in the literature (worldwide),” Suter told Sport24 at the time.

“It’s a medical emergency because if you don’t pick it up early they lose blood supply to the leg and they lose the leg. Within 15 minutes of him coming off the field and assessing him, we realised that he was at risk of this particular rare condition. He was taken straight to Vincent Pallotti (Hospital) where he had a vascular surgeon waiting and he was operated on that night.

“It’s very unusual, very rare but they had to cut through the muscle to release the pressure and they were only able to close that leg 10 days after his initial injury.”

That was the first escape Du Toit had, and the second, which saw him overcome a nasty injury in the most unique way, saved his career for a second time.

THE MEDICAL MIRACLE

Du Toit had his first rupture back in 2014 - the same injury the Sharks complained about when he tore his Anterior Cruciate Ligament and then tore it again in 2015 - almost to the day a year later, playing against the Cheetahs.

But it was the ground-breaking idea from Dr Willem van der Merwe - who would later do a similar opeation to get Siya Kolisi to the 2023 World Cup - that gave Du Toit a lease of life.

Two ACL injuries are never easy to come back from, but Du Toit consulted with Dr Van der Merwe, whose idea was to harvest a section of Pieter Sr.'s hamstring tendon and graft it into Pieter-Steph’s damaged knee joint

The two Du Toit’s went into hospital at the same time and the operation was done, something unheard of before.

“Two days after that, we both went to the same hospital room. I went first and the doctor cut my knee open, and saw what had to be done. Yeah, they pulled him in afterwards and took his tendon,” Du Toit described it at the time.

"When we came to the farm, we both actually went out of the hospital in wheelchairs, and my mother took us to the farm. He just got out of the car and started farming again. It was like nothing had happened to him. I was on my crutches, struggling to get to the room and lying on the bed!"

Either way Du Toit was mobile again and was living his dream.

"When you look at everything he has overcome—the knees, the father's tendon, the leg injury that almost cost him his limb—to see him stand at the absolute summit of world rugby isn't just an inspiration for rugby players; it’s an inspiration for human resilience,” his Stormers coach John Dobson believes.

THE WORLD CUP FINAL MONSTER PERFORMANCE

But his performances have never dipped and the occasion has always been one to which he will rise. His 28-tackle performance in the 2023 World Cup final in Paris is just another chapter in a great legacy of play.

Jordie Barrett was harassed by Du Toit as he hunted anyone in a black jersey, but Barrett got the brunt of it.

And when he was asked about it afterwards, Du Toit played it down, as he does every incredible match he plays.

"Honestly, I didn't know how many tackles I had made until after the match. When you're in the middle of a World Cup final, you don't count - you just see a green shirt next to you, an All Black with the ball, and you hit them as hard as you can."

And that is Pieter-Steph du Toit. Bionic man, Springbok great and player extraordinaire.

He is a generational player, one in a million and one who deserves the 100th cap he receives on Saturday.

His trophy cabinet speaks volumes. Twice World Rugby Men’s 15s Player of the year (2019, 2024), 2x Rugby World Cup Champion, British and Irish Lions Series winner, 3x Rugby Championship winner, 3x SA Rugby Player of the year, IRB Junior World Championship winner.

If there is a trophy, Du Toit has handled it at some stage.

MALMESBURY MISSILE

With that in mind, we leave the final to Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber on his 28-tackle performance at Stade de France.

"He was phenomenal. I must say in the last couple of games, he wanted it desperately... I always joke that if there's a white plastic bag that blows over the field, he would probably chase that down as well. He is the Malmesbury Missile; he was like a machine."

Du Toit himself said when talking about his injuries that one day he will wake up and miss the pain.

"If you play for the Springboks, you've got to push yourself until you physically can't go anymore. That's how I feel. You put your health and your body aside, that's consequences for later in your life... I'm not going to lie down, that's not who I am... Rugby players are a different breed. You get used to the pain. One day, you are going to wake up and miss the pain,” he told the SABC.

And one day we will all wake up and realise Du Toit has left the game for good, and we will miss the Malmesbury Missile. And the incredible player that he is,