Stephen Jones, Rugby correspondent

The Sunday Times

End of the road: Schalk Brits intends to take a master’s degree in business at Oxford University — and may play in the Varsity match
End of the road: Schalk Brits intends to take a master’s degree in business at Oxford University — and may play in the Varsity matchPETER TARRY

He is the most amazing rugby player I have seen. No doubt, no qualification, and I’ve seen a few. If Saturday’s Aviva Premiership final at Twickenham is to be his last game for Saracens, the last on-field action of a nine-year reciprocated love affair with the club and its followers, then thank goodness he has the biggest stage for it.

If you want me to justify myself then you haven’t seen much of him. How many players have you seen who can cut the angles so silkily, who puts players through gaps with a pass or surges through himself on to passes, stands back to take high kicks and hardly ever fails to run them back with interest? Or who often stands in the openside flank position to lead the defensive line at rare pace, has a vast range of skills, understands the head-up game better than most fly-halves — and then goes down and hooks in the scrum? This is maestro stuff. It’s one man making history.

Schalk Brits, the Saracens hooker originally from KwaZulu Natal but an easy fit in his adopted Hertfordshire, has reached the end of his contract. He has been a brilliant player but also the kind of character that welds team spirit powerfully into place around him.

He is, for representing precisely the values of the club and its crusade to establish itself, what the Americans call the franchise player. “People ask if I regret not winning more caps for the Springboks,” he said last week. “Well if I had won more I would have missed out on this wonderful Sarries experience.

“You do remember all the games but you remember those more for sitting naked in a bath drinking beer. You remember our team trip to Miami where they gave us RVs to drive around; or the Munich Beer Festival, the ski trips. We’d perform well the week before we went and then the week after we came back.”

 He speaks about sharing a room with the stern and reserved former lock, Steve Borthwick, as an example of team culture. “Steve and I are polar opposites. I’d come in and jump on him late at night; he’d been asleep, or analysing videos. But we both understood it needed a sacrifice from us both to help the team function.”

Jim Hamilton, the retired giant lock, recalls a day at breakfast after a shattering defeat somewhere in Europe. “Everyone was down, everything was quiet, and then Schalk runs into breakfast wearing a vivid lime green tracksuit. ‘How’s everyone today?’ he shouts. It was impossible not to laugh and get yourself back up.”

He has also retained his accessibility. One day as a small boy, he was watching Western Province play at Newlands with Chris, his father. The team contained his favourite player, whom he will not name. “He was my hero. I ran up to him after the game for his signature and he brushed me away. I told my Dad as we drove home and he made excuses for the bloke, but I told him if ever I was in the same position I would never push anyone away.

Even now, sitting here today, I might be second guessing my decision to retire

“The fans come out in freezing weather. It’s hard to attend to every kid but if you make them feel special for a few seconds, if you remember kids bring parents to rugby, then the interaction helps them raise the passion for it.” His own passion for his native country remains. England is home for Christian, Ashton and Luke, his sons, and there is some dismay from Chris and Maryna, their grandparents, at their English accent. Colinda, his wife, to whom he gives most of the credit for his achievements, has a job she loves, as a solicitor in the City.

But his other major life influences are largely South African — Harare-born Edward Griffiths, once chief executive of Saracens, the driving force behind the 1995 World Cup in South Africa (it is preposterous that Griffiths is not running a club in the Aviva Premiership) and John Smit, the former Springbok hooker and captain of the 2007 world champions. As with so many South Africans, his beloved country is an attraction and a repellent. “South Africa is beautiful, I miss the family and friends I’ve known since they called me Smiley as a little kid. But there is such uncertainty at home.” He looked across the road from the sunny pub garden where we were speaking. “Those houses there, you’d never see that in South Africa, with no electric fencing, no guards. The best chance to become great citizens of the world and to succeed in life — and I don’t just mean financially — may be here.” It is a debate he and Colinda must have sometime in the future.

This week he will be preparing for his last Sarries game, in a league he loves, but says that when added to the Test scene, it is just too harsh, too long. The future? When I sat down with this focused man I expected he would have it all worked out and would be desperate to move on. Indeed, he intends to enrol for a master’s in business administration at Oxford University and he may well play in the 2018 Varsity match next season — he could easily do so in around six positions.

On the charge: Schalk Brits scores a try for Saracens
On the charge: Schalk Brits scores a try for SaracensGLENN SPARKES

“I am committed to my second career,” he says, and he has the chance to work in London for Reinet Investments, which has its origins in South Africa. He wants a major post, he wants more than simply to be employed as Schalk Brits, the former rugby player.

Then I ask him about transition, the dreaded day when with all that adrenaline, you have no game to get rid of ire. How will that feel? The certainty wavers a little. “To be honest, I just do not know. John Smit and I speak about transition and he says you can’t replicate what we had in our careers, but you have to find something that gives you a similar drive, and you have to have physical exercise. Even now with my missus, if we go on holiday I get grumpy if I don’t train.” He talks of mountain biking and golf.

I offer the view that his rugby form remains outstanding. He is 37, but you would never know it. “I had no idea I would feel this good from a physical point of view. My team are the reason but I am playing great rugby. On the rugby app my carries, metres, tackles, turnovers, breaks are all up there — it may sound arrogant but I shouldn’t be performing how I am. Even now, sitting here today, I might be second-guessing my decision to retire. At 37 you should feel knackered, and I don’t.”

Whatever the future, you would pray that restlessness does not afflict him, that there is something to replicate the thrill of his career and his style, his successes and his outlook on life. As a rugby man transcending the sport’s narrow confines, he is up there with Andy Ripley and Jonny Wilkinson.

The final whistle on Saturday will be cruel for rugby. We have just one more chance to admire the wonderful kaleidoscope of skills from the Magic Man. Transit in peace, Schalk. My generation was fortunate enough to be watching when you were weaving your spells.

SCHALK BRITS IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Best thing about Britain? 
The weather, the people and the golf courses

Weirdest thing? 
In London I greet people I don’t know on the underground and they think I am the weirdest bloke on the planet

Heroes?
Nelson Mandela. How could anyone have that sort of compassion after so long in prison?

Horrible opponent?
In an early game I came up against Carl Hayman and Anton Oliver and in the first scrum I passed out because of the pressure. Marius Hurter turned to me and said: ‘Don’t worry, it can only get better’

Coaching career? 
No. I want weekends off with my family

Rugby love?
I have always tried to maintain the sense of fun and love for the game. We are professionals but the joy remains

Best round of golf? 
Dunhill Links Championship, Old Course, St Andrews, with Louis Oosthuizen. I played out of my skin

Regrets?
I could regret not winning more than 10 caps for South Africa, but if I had I might not have had this wonderful Saracens experience
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/sport/schalk-brits-you-remember-the-games-but-you-recall-it-more-for-sitting-naked-in-a-bath-drinking-beer-zxkbrmzh3