Du Toit Quits Japan as Third Springbok in Days Heads Home

Pieter-Steph du Toit is coming home. The two-time World Cup winner has agreed an early release from his contract with Toyota Verblitz, ending five years in Japan for family reasons — and making him the third Springbok in a matter of days to walk away from Japanese rugby. The announcement, made on Friday 6 November, follows the same path taken by Malcolm Marx, the current World Rugby Player of the Year, who is joining the Bulls, and fly-half Manie Libbok, who is heading to the Sharks, both next summer. Three of South Africa's biggest names, three departures in one week: it is a small exodus, and it says something about where the game's centre of gravity now sits for players who have spent years abroad. Du Toit, 34, was still under contract, but both parties mutually agreed to part ways. His reason was simple and human. "Toyota Verblitz and the people of Japan have been incredibly kind and welcoming to our family," he said. "I did not want to be separated from my family and travel back and forth between Japan and South Africa." For a player who has given everything to the Springboks for more than a decade, the pull of home has finally outweighed the pull of a lucrative contract abroad. The club's general manager, Akitomo Goto, praised his "professionalism, leadership and commitment", and the tone of the farewell was warm on both sides. There is no bitterness here — just a great player deciding that the next chapter of his life belongs in South Africa. His destination club is not yet known, and it is believed the announcement will come once the Nations Championship is over. For now, du Toit still has a job to do in green and gold: he starts at openside flanker against Italy in Genoa on Saturday. A player with 102 Springbok caps, World Rugby Player of the Year awards in 2019 and 2024, and two World Cup winners' medals does not simply wind down. Wherever he lands, he will arrive as one of the most decorated forwards of his generation — and as a reminder that, for all the money in the game, home still matters most. Toyota Verblitz, meanwhile, lose a leader who spent five years with the club, through good seasons and bad, and who carried himself with the same professionalism in Japan that made him a Springbok great. The club's farewell was gracious, but the gap he leaves is not a small one.