LONDON – Former Stormers and Western Province loose forward Nick Koster will head into retirement after an English Varsity match this week.
Koster played for the Stormers between 2009 and 2012 before joining English Premiership sides Bath and Bristol.
Prior to the 2017-18 Premiership season, though, Koster was one of several players released by Bristol, and he then went on to join Cambridge University to complete a Master of Studies in Social Innovation.
He also joined the famous Universities' rugby team, bringing some individual professionalism to what is an otherwise an entirely amateur first team made up of students.
However, Koster will now hang up his boots after this Thursday's traditional Cambridge University clash.
"I started playing as a six-year-old out in a farming area of South Africa, where we played at 8am on Saturday mornings when it was freezing and your toes would turn blue, but I loved it and enjoyed the sport so much from a young age,” he reflected in an interview with CambridgeshireLive.
“When I did get to the professional side of the sport it turned out to be very different to how I expected and very different to the reason I fell in love with the game. For me to come back to the amateur setting and finish my career here in a game like this is a really special thing to be able to do."
Koster said he hoped to go out on a high after his career came full circle.
"People fall in love with the amateur values of the game, and for me to be able to play two years of amateur rugby again after 10 years as a pro has been surreal. Being surrounded by people playing the game for the love of it again, I get to finish it off on my terms. It will be my last game, and apart from the odd drunken Sevens tournament, I won’t be playing much rugby after this.
“One more game, and I’ll lead from the front and do everything in my power to make sure I leave that game feeling I have done myself, the university and everyone else justice.”