The ominous Pieter-Steph du Toit warning just issued by Boks

Utility forward Pieter-Steph du Toit was a man on a mission during the Springboks’ enthralling 31-27 win over the All Blacks at Emirates Airline Park. Du Toit is usually a backrower but was named at lock, with the Boks enforcer going on to stand out in an all-time classic Test.

Du Toit was named the Player of the Final in last year’s Rugby World Cup decider against the All Blacks at Stade de France. The two-time world champion has long been held in high regard throughout the rugby world, and Saturday’s match was another example of why that is.

With the Springboks having been hit by an injury crisis at lock, du Toit shifted into the No. 4 jumper and was later presented with Player of the Match honours after another performance worthy of a forward who will one day go down in history as one of the greats.

The 32-year-old from Cape Town led the way with a game-high 18 carries and he was also the top tackler on the night for the Springboks with 11. It was the type of individual brilliance that supporters have come to expect from du Toit, but that doesn’t take away from the praise.

Coach Rassie Erasmus joked post-game that the Springboks “were feeling sorry” for du Toit after he played multiple positions on the night, but the man himself didn’t seem too bothered. Days later, a member of the Boks’ coaching staff issued an ominous warning by saying du Toit “can get better.”

“You know what the ‘lekker’ (means good in South African slang) thing about Pieter-Steph du Toit is? He played four, five, seven. I reckon he (could play) prop, I’m not sure if he’s ready there yet but we’ll work on that,” assistant coach Daan Human told reporters on Monday afternoon.

“It adds a lot of value and I don’t think he cares whether he puts a jersey on, even on the bench, it doesn’t matter. He just wants to play.

“I’m not sure if he still knows if he’s Pieter-Steph du Toit or Steph-Pieter du Toit but he did very well for us and hopefully he can be part of next week again and hopefully that can overflow to the rest of the players as well.

“It’s inspiring to watch a guy playing like that, really. It’s nice and always a learner, always wanting to get better. I think for himself… there’s certain areas where he can get better so that’s good to know.”

Du Toit was named along with Ruan Nortje in a relatively untested second row combination but the pair seemed to do their job before the latter was replaced after 25 minutes. Then, Eben Etzebeth came on to add some serious size and experience to a star-studded pack.

Etzebeth had been under an injury cloud before that Test, but after being cleared to play, the dual Rugby World Cup winner was named on the bench. The 32-year-old was once again a force to be reckoned with, who proved problematic for the All Blacks at times.

But that was then and this is now. The Springboks have announced they won’t name their team publicly until Thursday. South Africa have a history of revealing their team on a Tuesday but the New Zealanders will be left guessing for an extra couple of days.

“We did the review and obviously there’s a lot of stuff that I think we actually can work on and get better at, but obviously we realise… they’re a quality side so obviously it’s going to be tough to have always greater results in all the departments,” Human explained.

“We’ve got very versatile players here who can play a lot of positions,” he added. “I wouldn’t say it weakened our scrum but we realise that guys haven’t been a combination together, I think Ruan (Nortje) and Pieter-Steph as a lock pair.

Then we swapped (du Toit) to another position; five and then he went to seven… it’s decisions that we took and I think they really delivered even though they haven’t been playing for a while together.

“Yes, we realise there’s a lot of locks injured… hoping they get ready soon.”