Durban — The HollywoodBets Kings Park faithful will be bidding farewell to two of their heroes in Siya Kolisi and Thomas du Toit on Saturday when the Sharks play their last home United Rugby Championship (URC) match of the season.
Even if the Sharks beat Munster, they cannot qualify for a home play-off in the competition and that means Du Toit and Kolisi, who are heading for Bath and Racing 92 respectively, will be playing their last matches in Durban.
It will all the more poignant an occasion for Du Toit because he joined the Sharks straight out of school at Paarl Boys High in 2014.
That means Du Toit has been a mainstay in the Sharks team for just under a decade and he says it would be “naïve” to say that he will be able to shut out all of his emotions come kick-off at 6.30pm on Saturday evening.
“There’s no real timeline, but my contract ends basically after my last game, whenever that is,” the 27-year-old Du Toit said. “But for sure this will be my last URC home game at Kings Park.
“Last week when we played Benetton, the reality settled in a bit that I am leaving after basically a decade of loyalty to this one union.
“You are a bit naïve if you don’t think about it and work through those emotions. It’s definitely something I have been processing for the last two weeks or so. But my job is to play rugby, and I need to play good rugby. I want to leave this union on as big a high as possible. It’s a scenario of leaving the jersey in a better place than you got it. That’s something we always speak about but now it is coming to pass for me.”
The man nicknamed Thomas The Tank by his supporters said that while he will be emotional, he is looking forward to a new life in the west of England.
“It’s starting to sink in and I am definitely emotional. At the same time, there are exciting chapters in my life ahead. On the one hand, it hurts to leave, but on the other, it’s exciting.”
Regarding Kolisi, Du Toit said that the Springbok captain will be missed.
“Siya is a natural leader. One of his best traits is that he gets along with most people. That’s part of what makes him a very good leader.
“He has brought that personality and inclusiveness into the Sharks. He has done well in getting to know everyone and building personal relationships with them. So he’s had a good impact. He has done a hell of a lot of good things at the Sharks and he’s been very involved in the community. I hope in the future that we can work more together.”
But the main business on Saturday has to be beating the Irish team that last week shocked the Stormers.
The Sharks put 50 points past this same Munster team in a Champions Cup match three weeks ago but Du Toit is expecting a different challenge from them.
“They are going to be much better prepared,” Du Toit said. “I think they had some tough conversations within their own camp. They won’t be the same. They played some unbelievable rugby against the Stormers. I think we are going to see more of that. Their coach made it clear what they needed to work on after our game. They clearly got it right in Cape Town.”
IOL Sport