Steven Kitshoff prepares for Battle of the Boks in Champions Cup tie

A raft of Boks left their South African clubs for pastures anew after the 2023 Rugby World Cup. Kitshoff swapped his beloved Stormers for Bath in England, who are set to host French giants Racing 92 in early January.

Kitshoff and Nyakane would have lined up across from each other on plenty of occasions on the Springbok training paddock, but now fans get to watch the contest in real-time.

The two-time World Cup-winning prop admitted that he's been keeping tabs on his teammates' performances at Racing 92.

"I watched the Racing-Harlequins game in really big detail over the weekend - I spent my Sunday night watching the game," the 31-year-old told the Belfast News Letter.

"Siya - watching that one game - he's a massive attacking threat when he gets the ball in hand, quite dangerous. Defensively he's solid, he's a threat at the breakdown. I haven't seen his line-out skills tested yet.

Siya is an awesome player, Trevor has been playing off the bench but I know he'll be involved this weekend [against Ulster]. They're two massive South African ball carriers, brute-force players."

Previewing the 14 January clash, Kitshoff would relish the front-row tussle with Nyakane should they be named in the line-ups.

"I'd love Trevor to start for Racing," continued the loosehead.

"We have some great history, all the way back when he was playing for the Cheetahs, we came across each other.

"He's been an awesome Springbok tighthead prop and an awesome Springbok loosehead prop as well. He's been playing great rugby. It would be interesting to have a scrum battle against Trevor."

Meanwhile, Kitshoff is still looking for his first win with his new club. It's been three losses from his three starts, but the Paarl native is hoping the Rugby Gods will lift the curse soon enough.

"It was a bit of a wake-up call but I didn't think I'd walk in and we'd just start winning - it doesn't work like that, you have to put in the hard work," quipped Kitshoff.

"It's definitely a bit of a wake-up call and I need to make sure I get myself right before I expect to perform as I should. I haven™t been on par yet."

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