Springbok great and Stormers legend Steven Kitshoff forced into premature retirement due to neck injury

Retirement comes to all professional athletes at some stage, but for Stormers and Springbok prop Steven Kitshoff, it came a littler earlier than he’d hoped for.

The two-time World Cup winner, captain of the Stormers when they won the inaugural United Rugby Championship (URC) title in 2022 and front row legend, came through countless skirmishes.

But one bad scrum in a Currie Cup game in Kimberley late last year resulted in a freak neck injury with damage to the C1 and C2 vertebrae. It was his professional sliding doors moment. According to him, he came 2mm from death.

Initial plans to wear a neck brace and allow scar tissue to build up to form a natural protection for the injury did not progress as well as hoped.

Surgery followed, to allow Kitshoff the chance to lead a “normal” life by being able to move his head from side to side. Following an extensive rehabilitation process he has been left with significantly reduced rotation of his neck, and the advice from a specialist neurosurgeon was that there would be a high risk of another injury should he continue playing.

The problem is, for Kitshoff, rugby has been his constant companion for almost his entire life. It was his “normal”.

Catastrophic outcomes

Playing rugby will definitely not be part of this new normal because a relapse could lead to any number of catastrophic outcomes. It just wasn’t worth the risk.

He will not add to his 83 Bok caps, the last of which was during the final of Rugby World Cup 2023, which the Boks won 12-11 against New Zealand.

And his Stormers tally will remain locked in at 138 appearances. As disappointing as it is, he gets to walk away, literally. It could have been so much worse.

“If you had to look at my matric results, rugby was my only career option,” Kitshoff told a small media gathering on Tuesday with a laugh. “I’ve always been super passionate about the sport. And playing rugby was always a dream from when I was a little boy.

“I was just fortunate enough to go to a very good school (Paul Roos) and get opportunities to play provincially at schoolboy level. I got a very early call from Allister (Coetzee) back in the day (2010) to say, listen here, come and join the group. I was still writing matric exams at that stage.

“So that was my entry into the Stormer’s side. Playing rugby was always the biggest dream. Not just representing the Springboks, but just playing for the Stormers, running out at Newlands back in the day. That was my goal.”

It’s fair to say he achieved his goal and more.

“I can count my blessings and be very grateful that I’m still alive, but yeah, now it’s 100% seize every day. I have proper planning, and working towards new goals, and a new career, so, yeah, I’m just grateful to be around, and being able to talk in this room.

“Secondly, it’s like now, it’s like really seizing this opportunity, it’s almost like a second lifeline that’s been given to me.”

Loyalty

Debates will rage around braais about the best Bok looseheads, of which Kitshoff will be a central figure.

Like Os du Randt, he won two World Cups, while his formative Test years were as an understudy to the formidable Tendai “Beast” Mtawarira.

Who is the best among them? That’s for others to decide, but it’s fair to say that the 33-year-old Kitshoff more than contributed to the Springbok, and South African, rugby story.

In fact, such was his influence and impact that Stormers director of rugby John Dobson noted that his decision to stay at the club during tumultuous times was a massive factor in the Stormers’ survival.

In October 2021, after two years of catastrophic leadership decisions that left the Western Province Rugby Football Union bankrupt and effectively out of business, players understandably fled for better offers.

Steven Kitshoff of the Stormers during their United Rugby Championship quarterfinal match against the Bulls at DHL Stadium on 6 May 2023 in Cape Town, South Africa. (Photo: Carl Fourie / Gallo Images)

A 20-year-old Steven Kitshoff during the Vodacom Cup quarterfinal match between Western Province and  the Sharks XV at DHL Newlands Stadium on 30 April 2011 in Cape Town, South Africa. (Photo: Carl Fourie / Gallo Images)

Eben Etzebeth, Siya Kolisi and Pieter-Steph du Toit were some high profile players who departed.

“When we went through the very, very dark times, Steven stayed,” Dobson said. “How we actually turned it around was to get Steven and Frans Malherbe to stay. If we could go to Frans and say Steven was staying, Frans would almost certainly sign.

“And then the little Scarra (Ntubeni) stayed because Steven and Frans were staying. We could have gone the route of other unions and closed.

“It was Steven’s faith in us (coaches) and the Stormers, which wasn’t and couldn’t be based on security. It was based on his love for this union that we managed to turn it around, and I think it's probably the reason why we’re on the trajectory we are on.

“Maybe we’re not in the log position where we want to be right now (the Stormers are 10th on the URC standings), but the trajectory we are on as a franchise, as a club, has a lot to do with Steven.

“He could have gone anywhere in the world at that stage. But he stayed.”

Kitshoff did have a brief stint with Ulster in 2023, and earlier in his career he spent two seasons at French club Bordeaux (2015-17) at a time when the Bok coach was not allowed to select overseas-based players.

It was for life experience, and although he knew his Bok hopes were on hold, he never gave up the dream of playing for the green and gold.

“We are extremely sad that Steven’s career had to end this way, but we would like to extend our gratitude to him for his hard work and the sacrifices he has made over the years to become such a vital cog in the team,” Bok coach Rassie Erasmus said.

“He is a true team man, and he earned enormous respect from his team-mates and the coaches with his high work ethic, drive to be the best he can on the field, and his down-to-earth nature. He will always remain a warrior and fine ambassador of what the Springboks stand for.”

Prodigy

Kitshoff was a schoolboy prodigy who had to get special medical clearance to play senior rugby as a front row forward as a teenager. Various strength metrics showed he was powerful enough to mix it with the “haardebaarde” (experienced players), but indemnities needed to be signed.

He made his senior Stormers debut in 2011. He had to wait until 2016 for his Test debut (against Ireland), thanks largely to his French sojourn.

But once he was selected for the Boks, as long as he was fit, he was an ever-present in the team.

Steven Kitshoff of South Africa takes on Brodie Retallick during the Rugby World Cup France 2023 final against New Zealand at Stade de France on 28 October 2023 in Paris, France. (Photo: David Rogers / Getty Images)

“My earliest ‘cherished’ memory would be the 2012 Currie Cup final in Durban,” Kitshoff reminisced. “We were a very young front row of myself, Scarra and Frans versus Beast, Jannie  and Bismarck (du Plessis).

“We also had some incredible Super Rugby runs at that stage. We were a strong team and I was playing with legends.

“My Springbok debut in 2016 is another cherished memory. Obviously both World Cups (the Boks won in 2019 and 2023), and the 2021 Lions series during Covid-19 was special.

“There were special memories in that hotel (in isolation) as well. I think it was a group of 35 players and their wives all stuck in one hotel together.

“But then, yeah, and then probably a cherry on the cake when it came to the Stormers was that URC final and lifting the trophy. I think this team went through dark times and actually managed to find a way to put performances together and come out on top. That was just a special, special season.”

And Kitshoff was a special, special player. DM