Piet du Toit
Full names: Pieter Stephanus
Date of birth: 9 Oct 1935
Place of birth: Petrusville
School: Paarl Boys High
Springbok no: 332
Springbok debut province: Boland
Physical: 1.85m, 95.3kg
Date of death: 26 Feb 1996 (Age 60)
Test summary: Tests: 14 Tries: 0
First Test: 26 Jul 1958 Age 22 - Tight-head Prop against France at Newlands, Cape Town
Last Test: 12 Aug 1961 Age 25 - Tight-head Prop against Australia at Boet Erasmus, Port Elizabeth
Tours Australia & New Zealand 1956 British Isles, Ireland & France 1960-61
Test history:
DateAgePositionOpponentVenueResultScoreProvince
26 Jul 1958 22Tight-head Prop France Newlands, Cape Town Draw: 3-3  Boland
16 Aug 1958 22Tight-head Prop France Ellispark, Johannesburg Lose: 5-9  Boland
25 Jun 1960 24Tight-head Prop New Zealand Ellispark, Johannesburg Win: 13-0  Boland
23 Jul 1960 24Tight-head Prop New Zealand Newlands, Cape Town Lose: 3-11  Boland
13 Aug 1960 24Tight-head Prop New Zealand Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein Draw: 11-11  Boland
27 Aug 1960 24Tight-head Prop New Zealand Boet Erasmus, Port Elizabeth Win: 8-3  Boland
03 Dec 1960 25Tight-head Prop Wales Millenium Stadium (Cardiff Arms Park), Cardiff Win: 3-0  Boland
17 Dec 1960 25Tight-head Prop Ireland Aviva Stadium (Lansdowne Road), Dublin Win: 8-3  Boland
07 Jan 1961 25Tight-head Prop England Twickenham, London Win: 5-0  Boland
21 Jan 1961 25Tight-head Prop Scotland Murrayfield, Edinburgh Win: 12-5  Boland
18 Feb 1961 25Tight-head Prop France Stade Olympique, Colombes, Paris Draw: 0-0  Boland
13 May 1961 25Tight-head Prop Ireland Newlands, Cape Town Win: 24-8  Boland
05 Aug 1961 25Tight-head Prop Australia Ellispark, Johannesburg Win: 28-3  Boland
12 Aug 1961 25Tight-head Prop Australia Boet Erasmus, Port Elizabeth Win: 23-11  Boland

I once had a letter from a parent who told me that his son was playing first team as a flank, but believed he should be a frontranker as he was very strong and had been doing special exercises. Would I please take a look at him? He was a first-year student at Stellenbosch at the time and the season was about to start.

I walked down to where the under-19's were having a practice game and asked the coach: "Do you have a Du Toit here?" and he said: "Yes".

I asked him in which position he was playing and the coach told me he was in the front row. "That's where I want to see him" I said and watched for a while.

"We have two Springboks here, that prop and his hooker," I said afterwards. Those two were Piet du Toit and Abie Malan, and together they went - all the way from under-19 to the Springbok team.

Piet "Spiere" du Toit was one of the strongest men to represent the Springboks in the front row. He did not look all that strong but, by gad, he was incredible.