‘One of the most remarkable stories in South African rugby’ – Springboks and Bulls prop calls time on professional career
Bulls and Springboks prop Lizo Gqoboka retires.
Springboks and Bulls prop Lizo Gqoboka has announced his retirement from the game and hangs up his boots with no regrets as he looks back on a stellar rugby career.
The loosehead prop, who was capped twice by the Springboks and racked up well over a century of appearances in the blue jersey, has made his decision at the age of 36.
“I think it’s been long coming,” Gqoboka explained, reflecting on a decision he revealed he has quietly been preparing for.
“Most of my early 30s and the past four years especially, with all the injuries I was getting back to back, I knew it was really getting close. But I was so grateful to finish here, with the Vodacom Bulls.”
Finishing strong
It was certainly not a case of bowing out on a low note too, as in his final game, a warm-up fixture against the Falcons, Gqoboka was named Man of the Match, scoring two tries and winning an impressive eight scrum penalties.
The following week, with no fresh injury forcing his hand, the veteran forward told the union he was done.
“I just felt that it’s time, you know? I knew I was always on the edge, but I just had this knowing now that it’s time, at 36. I’ve had a good run. I’ve had a really good run, and so I think my heart is just full with gratitude and contentment.”
Looking back on how his rugby career began, Gqoboka revealed that he did not pick up a rugby ball until the age of 19 as he reflected on what a journey it has been.
“Where I come from, in the rural areas of the Eastern Cape, I was taught everything in isiXhosa. I only learned English in university,” he said. “I mean, back home, people laugh when I say the first time I had a pizza with a topping, I was in varsity, and I didn’t even know they existed.”
The front-rower worked loading trucks at 15 and later at a funeral parlour at 17, jobs he still speaks about with affection rather than bitterness. “I still go there and greet some of the people who still work there. Crazy, amazing loyalty.”
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In his retirement statement, the Bulls revealed that even as Gqoboka’s rugby career took shape, he kept working, completing a business management qualification in Durban and later holding down a full day job at a construction firm building a bridge in Pinetown, training and playing club rugby in the evenings.
“I couldn’t tell you the difference between a prop and a hooker when I started,” he admitted. “I had never watched rugby before I played it. I just took the ball and ran fast because I played soccer and did athletics. I think that’s why I was picked, because I didn’t know what I was doing.”
His professional career began at the EP Kings before he spent more than a decade at the Bulls as well as enjoying stints at both Montpellier and with the Stormers.
“You still need to work hard. You still need to be disciplined. You still need to be teachable,” he said of the climb. “I had the humility to ask for help from other players, to stay behind and say, help me, how do I tackle, how do I pass? I am not a self-made man. I am a sum of the teachings of my parents, my environment, my family, my friends, my coaches.”
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“Lizo’s journey is one of the most remarkable stories in South African rugby, defined not just by his physical power on the field, but by his humility, resilience, and character off it,” said Edgar Rathbone, chief executive of the Blue Bulls Company.
“To arrive at the game so late and go on to earn two Springbok caps while serving as a foundational pillar for the Vodacom Bulls for over a decade speaks volumes about the man he is.
“He leaves behind an inspiring legacy at Loftus Versfeld, and while we will miss his leadership and infectious warmth in the changeroom, we wish him every success in this next chapter.”
Of all the honours he has achieved, one stands above the rest for the prop. “Definitely playing for the Springboks, representing my country. I think that’s the biggest one for any player.”
Close behind, he says, is what it took simply to survive at a union like the Bulls for a decade. “It takes more than just talent to stay at such a big union, where talent comes every day. To stay there for 10 years speaks of character.”
Gqoboka was then asked which opponent gave him the toughest afternoons in the scrum and he did not hesitate in giving his answer. “Frans [Malherbe] was tough. He’s not just big and strong, he’s also technically sound, and you barely find those guys. Someone might be strong but not technically sound, or trying all the tricks but not quite there in terms of strength. With Frans, he was such an all-rounder, in terms of strength and technique.”
What’s next
Gqoboka will now move from the background of his career to its centre. He has recently completed a second degree, this time in theology, and preaching has quietly run through his entire playing career.
He has also built a business in earthmoving equipment, and discipline shows there too: a savings habit he started at 22, the moment he signed his first contract.
“It was about the habit and the discipline of putting away more than the amount,” he said, a philosophy that allowed him to buy equipment outright rather than lean on financing. He also plans to lean further into motivational speaking, drawing on a story that, by any measure, is remarkable: a boy who first went to school under a tree in Mount Frere, who did not touch a rugby ball until he was nearly out of his teens, going on to earn two Springbok caps and build a life most would call unimaginable from where he started.
“I’m truly grateful,” he said, closing the conversation the way he seemed to close most things in his career: full of thanks, and looking ahead rather than back. “All my kids are born here. It’s home.”
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