The remarkable rise of flanker Vincent Tshituka from a child refugee to the Springboks Test team will be completed on Saturday when he faces Italy in Pretoria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He fled to South Africa from the Democratic Republic of Congo with his family in 2002 to avoid politically-induced violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Later, while studying at the University of Johannesburg, he fell in love with rugby. It was an unusual choice given he came from a country where football is the dominant sport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tshituka caught the eye of scouts from the Johannesburg-based Lions, one of the four major rugby franchises in South Africa, and quickly established himself in the matchday 23.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2022 he moved to another of the ‘big four’, the Sharks in Durban, and became part of a Springbok-stacked pack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But to be eligible for the Springboks he had to become a South African citizen, which the 26-year-old achieved recently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He debuted for South Africa against the Barbarians last weekend and scored two tries in a 54-7 triumph. However, it was an exhibition match, so no caps were awarded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the clash with Italy is an official Test and no Springbok will be prouder than Tshituka when he runs on to the Loftus Versfeld pitch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Playing for the Springboks in a Test is the greatest sporting honour available to me. I have dreamt for many years of wearing the green and gold,” he told reporters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Fleeing Congo was a traumatic experience, particularly for my wonderful parents. After arriving in South Africa, my father would go to rubbish dumps, find items of value, and sell them to feed us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“There was little money, but we survived because our parents displayed incredible love for their children. We owe them so much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I did not go to a rugby-playing school, which was a disadvantage. But at university I made up for lost time and it is hard to describe exactly how I feel before facing the Italians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The more difficult your background, the more you appreciate the opportunities life presents. Saturday is going to be an extraordinary special day for me and my family,” he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tshituka is one of only three Springboks in the matchday 23 who were not part of the 2019 or 2023 Rugby World Cup-winning teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The others are scrum-half Morne van den Berg and tighthead prop Wilco Louw as South Africa start a 13-Test schedule that ends in Wales in late November.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Springboks head coach Rassie Erasmus has shown respect toward Italy by fielding a team lackking only two regular first choices — injured flankers Siya Kolisi and Pieter-Steph du Toit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Captain Kolisi also missed the Barbarians match and outside centre Jesse Kriel debuts as a Test captain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Everyone expects us to beat Italy, but they were really competitive in the first two rounds of the 2025 Six Nations Championship,” said Erasmus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Thereafter, they struggled with their player depth as they do not have such a large pool of players. They will be ready for us, though, and we dare not underestimate them.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Italy coach and former Argentina fly-half Gonzalo Quesada has made 10 changes to the team that started a narrow loss to Ireland last March in their final 2025 Six Nations outing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite the defeat, the Azzurri dodged the wooden spoon for the second straight season having earlier beaten Wales in Rome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Top-ranked South Africa are nine places above Italy and have scored an average of 55 points in winning seven previous home matches between the countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
No where is the gap between the teams more evident than experience. Twelve of the Springboks matchday 23 boast more than 50 caps while Italy have just four half-centurions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The remarkable rise of flanker Vincent Tshituka from a child refugee to the Springboks Test team will be completed on Saturday when he faces Italy in Pretoria. He fled to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":264705,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_yoast_wpseo_linkdex":"61","_yoast_wpseo_content_score":"30","_yoast_wpseo_inclusive_language_score":"90","_yoast_wpseo_is_cornerstone":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-title":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-description":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-image":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-image-id":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-title":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-description":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-image":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-image-id":"","newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","_crsspst_to_novanewscoza":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozabloemnewsexpress":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozacityvision":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozadistrictmailhelderberg":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozahermanustimes":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozakomani-karoo":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozakougaexpress":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozamthathaexpress":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozanoordkaapbulletin":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozapaarlpost":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozapeexpress":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozapeoplespost":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozaswartlandgazette":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozatygerburger":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozaudexpress":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozavistanews":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozavrystaatkroon":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozaweskusnuus":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozaweslander":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozaworcesterstandard":false,"_EventAllDay":"","_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":"","_EventShowMapLink":"","_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":"","_EventVenueID":"","_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":"","_VenueShowMapLink":"","_application":"","_batch_id":"","_company_name":"","_company_tagline":"","_company_twitter":"","_company_video":"","_company_website":"","_custom_id":"","_EventDuration":"","_EventOrigin":"","_EventTimezoneAbbr":"","_featured":"","_filled":"","_job_expires":"","_job_location":"","_media_credit":"","_media_credit_url":"","_menu_item_menu_item_parent":"","_menu_item_object":"","_menu_item_object_id":"","_menu_item_target":"","_menu_item_type":"","_menu_item_url":"","_menu_item_xfn":"","_navis_media_can_distribute":"","_navis_media_credit_org":"","_OrganizerOrigin":"","_provider":"","_pum_built_in":"","_pum_default_theme":"","_pum_form_conversion_count":"","_remote_id":"","_remote_name":"","_remote_position":"","_report_frequency":"","_report_reference_dates":"","_send_attempts":"","_site_id":"","_sitemap_exclude":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","_sitemap_priority":"","_source_url":"","_subscription_period":"","_subscription_period_interval":"","_subscription_price":"","_tec_slr_enabled":"","_tec_slr_layout":"","_template_type":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_ticket_start_date":"","_tribe_aggregator_allow_multiple_organizers":"","_tribe_aggregator_content_type":"","_tribe_aggregator_file":"","_tribe_aggregator_finalized":"","_tribe_aggregator_hash":"","_tribe_aggregator_import_id":"","_tribe_aggregator_import_name":"","_tribe_aggregator_interactive":"","_tribe_aggregator_origin":"","_tribe_aggregator_post_status":"","_tribe_aggregator_preview":"","_tribe_aggregator_source_name":"","_tribe_aggregator_type":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_hide_attendees_list":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":"","_tribe_ticket_version":"","_type":"","_VenueOrigin":"","_wp_attachment_context":"","_wp_attachment_image_alt":"","_wp_font_face_file":"","_wp_old_date":"","_yoast_wpseo_estimated-reading-time-minutes":"3","_yoast_wpseo_focuskeywords":"","_yoast_wpseo_focuskw_text_input":"","_yoast_wpseo_keywordsynonyms":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_block-catalog":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":"1","_yoast_wpseo_primary_job_listing_type":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_nova_retailer":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_publication":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_tribe_events_cat":"","_yoast_wpseo_videositemap-duration":"","_yoast_wpseo_videositemap-rating":"","_menu_item_classes":[],"_tribe_modified_fields":[],"_wp_attachment_backup_sizes":[],"_wp_suggested_privacy_policy_content":[],"_yoast_post_redirect_info":[],"_yoast_wpseo_video_meta":[],"activation_date":"","archive_insertion_is_repeating":"","archive_insertion_posts_count":"","article_feature_media":"","article_feature_type":"","article_main_image_caption":"","article_media_icon":"","article_template":"","author_byline":"David Legge \/ AFP","background_color":"","block_editor":"1","byline":"","cmplz_hide_cookiebanner":"","competition_end_date":"","contact_advertise_email":"","contact_advertise_phone":"","contact_editorial_email":"","contact_general_email":"","contact_general_phone":"","contact_office_hours":"","contact_physical_address":"","enabled":"","featured_image_custom_caption":"","featured_video_url":"","fields":"","font_body":"","font_header":"","frequency":"","headline":"","hide_border":"","icon":"","is_wp_suggestion":"","issuu_download_url":"","issuu_embed_url":"","language_version_url":"","large_border":"","name":"","nm_contact_name":"","nm_contact_number":"","nm_date_lost":"","no_overlay_background":"","node-url":"","obituary_born_date":"","obituary_died_date":"","obituary_memoriam_text":"","origin":"","overlay_color":"","overlay_opacity":"","overlay_size":"","placement":"","plural_label":"","post_author":"","post_id":"","post_language":"en","secret-key":"","sponsored_utm_campaign":"","sponsored_utm_content":"","sponsored_utm_medium":"","sponsored_utm_source":"","sponsored_utm_term":"","start_date":"","utm_suppression":"","video_embed_url":"","wp_pattern_sync_status":"","data_version":[],"enclosure":[],"pongrass_image":[],"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_newspack_byline_active":false,"_newspack_byline":"","newspack_content_restriction_is_exempt":false,"scaip_prevent_shortcode_addition":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[88,1],"tags":[93,8363,8231,8364],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"publication":[],"class_list":["post-264703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-news","tag-featured","tag-refugee","tag-springboks","tag-vincent-tshituka"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/AFP__20240524__34TV9C9__v1__HighRes__776147541.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":264784,"url":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/van-den-berg-strikes-twice-as-springboks-beat-italy\/","url_meta":{"origin":264703,"position":0},"title":"Van den Berg strikes twice as Springboks beat Italy","author":"Lise Beyers","date":"6 July 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"PRETORIA - Scrum-half Morne van den Berg scored two tries as Rugby World Cup title-holders South Africa beat Italy 42-24 in Pretoria on Saturday in the first of two Tests. Winning his third cap, the 27-year-old half-back from the Johannesburg-based Lions also impressed with his tactical kicking and won the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Springbok rugbykaartjies","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Damian-willemse-springboks.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Damian-willemse-springboks.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Damian-willemse-springboks.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Damian-willemse-springboks.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Damian-willemse-springboks.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Damian-willemse-springboks.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":264039,"url":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/new-bok-blood-for-epic-barbarian-clash-in-cape-town\/","url_meta":{"origin":264703,"position":1},"title":"New Bok blood for epic Barbarian clash in Cape Town","author":"Novus Media","date":"24 June 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus has taken a bold step toward building squad depth by naming four uncapped players in his team to face the Barbarians in the historic first-ever meeting between these sides on South African soil. The selection for Saturday\u2019s Qatar Airways Cup fixture at Cape Town Stadium sees\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Captain Siya Kolisi will lead a starting lineup featuring a blend of experience and fresh talent. Photo by ROMAIN","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Siya-Kolisi.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Siya-Kolisi.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Siya-Kolisi.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Siya-Kolisi.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Siya-Kolisi.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Siya-Kolisi.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":265791,"url":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/junior-boks-receive-a-heroes-welcome-back-home\/","url_meta":{"origin":264703,"position":2},"title":"Junior Boks receive a hero\u2019s welcome back home","author":"Novus Media","date":"21 July 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The Junior Springboks returned to South African soil as conquering heroes on Monday.","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Junior Springboks get heroes welcome back on South African soil after World Championship victory.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/250721-junior-boks-airport-fan-selfie-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/250721-junior-boks-airport-fan-selfie-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/250721-junior-boks-airport-fan-selfie-2.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/250721-junior-boks-airport-fan-selfie-2.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"NovaNews","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=264703"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264703\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/264705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=264703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=264703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=264703"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=264703"},{"taxonomy":"publication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publication?post=264703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}