Steven Kitshoff says that the “difficult” decision to hang up his boots was made easier when he weighed up life after rugby.
The double Rugby World Cup-winning Springboks prop announced his retirement earlier this week after sustaining a life-threatening neck injury last year.
Kitshoff went straight into professional rugby after completing his schooling, joining the Stormers’ senior Super Rugby squad shortly after matric.
Since then, his life has been dominated by rugby before it was brought to an abrupt halt during a Currie Cup match against the Griquas in Kimberley as he attempted to work his way back to full fitness for the Springboks.
It wasn’t that dramatic
The man affectionately known as ‘Spicy Plum’ admits that he still needs to get used to being referred to as a ‘former Springbok’ but is grateful that he survived the injury that was two millimetres away from taking his life.
Despite the severity of the injury, Kitshoff explains that it wasn’t actually that “dramatic” as he discussed how it unfolded.
“It wasn’t as dramatic as everyone thinks,” he told HOT 102.7.
“I’ve had a prior injury or scar tissue in that area of the C1 or C2 vertebrae, and it’s literally I just played a warm-up game trying to get fit for the Springboks. Played a game in Kimberley against the Griquas and just in a scrum, just felt a couple of pops and then as I stood up from the scrum, I just couldn’t turn my head anymore.
“I didn’t think much of it, carried on playing and then afterwards, I saw the doctor and he said ‘I think you might have broken your neck’. He had a feel, had a look and he said no your neck’s fine but the next morning when I saw him, he said ‘Listen this is very serious’.
“On the Monday, I went to his office and then he showed me in the pictures that I had dislocated my C1 vertebrae and it created a lot of instability in my neck.”
The injury has forced Kitshoff to bring the curtain down on his illustrious career which saw him leading the Stormers to URC success and win back-to-back Rugby World Cups with South Africa.
However, the ex-prop confirmed that it won’t affect his day-to-day life.
“Yes 100%, they stabilised it again with a cage and the photos look quite cool and I’ve got a scar to prove it, but from here it is just no contact sports and I can live a very happy and healthy life,” he replied when asked if he will be able to lead a healthy life playing golf and various other things.
Boks chances of completing a World Cup hat-trick?
The red-headed front-rower was a cornerstone of the Boks’ pack for their two World Cup campaigns and has now been denied the opportunity to chase the three-peat.
But does he fancy Rassie Erasmus’ chances of completing the hat-trick?
“100%,” he stated. “It’ll be interesting to see what happens in this upcoming international season whether Rassie is going to bleed some more youngsters in, I think the average age by the next World Cup will be quite high because Eben will be 36 and some of these okes are a bit older than what the normal rugby player plays up to.
“More often than not, get guys up to speed, get some experience with them and some game time. South Africa’s got the talent and the desire to win three World Cups in a row. It’ll be interesting to see how the teams develop over the next couple of seasons.”
READ MORE: Springboks home fixtures confirmed as Rassie Erasmus’ men return to Gqeberha
Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/steven-kitshoff-rugby-is-such-a-small-part-of-ones-journey-and-i-had-to-think-about-the-next-50-years
