Bokdle #18: 19 Oct 2026

The mystery green and gold player on 19 Oct 2026 was Pieter-Steph du Toit: Test player #854 · Flanker / Lock · 102 caps · 15 tries · 2× World Cup winner · Captain · School: Hoërskool Swartland.

Pieter-Steph du Toit is one of the great Springboks: a lock-turned-flanker with an engine nobody can match, two World Cups, and the World Rugby Player of the Year award twice, in 2019 and 2024. Born in Cape Town in August 1992, he grew up on the family's historic Kloovenburg estate in the Riebeek Valley and went to Hoërskool Swartland in Malmesbury, which gave him his nickname, the "Malmesbury Missile". Rugby runs in the family: his grandfather Piet du Toit won 14 caps as a Springbok prop between 1958 and 1962.

Shark, then Stormer

He joined the Sharks academy straight out of school, won the Junior World Championship with South Africa's Under-20s in 2012, and made his Super Rugby debut that year. In 2016 he moved home to the Stormers, though he never played for Western Province, and later went to Toyota Verblitz in Japan.

Springbok number 854

Du Toit made his Test debut against Wales in Cardiff in November 2013, aged 21. He first played at lock, but from 2019 the Springboks used him mostly at blindside flanker, and that's where he became a world-class player. He captained South Africa for the first time against Wales in June 2018, becoming their 60th Test captain.

Two finals

He won the World Cup in Japan in 2019, the year he was named World Rugby Player of the Year. In 2023 he was Player of the Match in the final against New Zealand, making 28 tackles as South Africa won 12–11 for back-to-back titles. In 2024 he won Player of the Year again, one of very few players to win it twice.

Coming back from the worst

In 2019 he tore a cruciate ligament, and the repair used a tendon donated by his father. In February 2020 a leg injury against the Blues developed into acute compartment syndrome, needing several operations and keeping him out for more than a year.

Test record

From bokhist.com's Test-by-Test list, up to the end of September 2026:

• Springbok number: 854
• Debut: 9 November 2013, aged 21, off the bench against Wales at Millennium Stadium, Cardiff (won 24–15)
• Most recent Test: 12 September 2026, aged 34, at flanker against New Zealand at Ravens Stadium, Baltimore (won 43–28)
• Tests: 102: 80 starts and 22 off the bench
• Results: 65 wins, 3 draws and 34 losses, a winning rate of 64%
• Starts by position: flanker 65, lock 15
• Most often played against: New Zealand (21 Tests)
• Captain: 6 Tests, the first against Wales on 2 June 2018

Did you know?

• He has more than 100 Test caps.
• He missed the deciding third Test of the 2021 Lions series with a shoulder injury.

Sources: bokhist.com, en.wikipedia.org

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