South Africa prop Steven Kitshoff retires from all rugby

South Africa prop Steven Kitshoff announced his retirement from all rugby Tuesday because of a serious neck injury that he said in an interview last year left him “two millimeters” from death.

Kitshoff announced in a statement from his South African domestic team, the Stormers.

The 33-year-old front-rower played 83 tests for the Springboks, winning back-to-back Rugby World Cups in 2019 and 2023. His last test for the Boks was the 12-11 win over New Zealand in the World Cup final in Paris two years ago.

“Playing rugby has been my life from a young age and I was lucky enough to live the dream of many young boys," Kitshoff said. “It is incredibly disappointing for my career to end in this way, but unfortunately the risk to my wellbeing was simply too high."

Kitshoff sustained the injury in a domestic game last year and underwent surgery and extensive rehabilitation. He recalled the moment in an interview with South Africa’s Rapport newspaper in December.

“It was just another scrum, then three cracking noises, pop, pop, pop,” Kitshoff told Rapport. “I kept playing, thinking it was a pulled muscle. But now I know, I was two millimetres away from catastrophe, from death.”

“The first thing the specialist said to me was: ‘Listen, you’re lucky we didn’t bury you in a week.’ Because the vertebra that shifted is so close to my brain canal.”

Kitshoff had surgery in November when a piece of bone from his hip was used to fuse the vertebrae in his neck. But the latest advice from a specialist neurosurgeon was that “there would be a high risk of another injury should he continue playing,” the Stormers said.