It is time for a grovelling apology. How many of us reacted with world-weary yawns last year when Saracens announced yet another signing from South Africa? Schalk Burger might have raised eyebrows but Schalk Brits? A mobile hooker with three Springbok caps, no slouch but not a guaranteed world-beater in the Premiership. Let's just say Mr Brits has been detonating all those lazy assumptions.

There are still a few days left before this season's Player of the Year award winners are confirmed but, frankly, they should call off the search now. Whether or not Sarries beat Northampton in a taut, tantalising Premiership semi-final at Franklin's Gardens on Sunday – and regardless of the latest disciplinary case swirling around him – the club's director of rugby, Brendan Venter, has already made up his mind.

"He's so far better than anything else in England, it's scary," says Venter, matter-of-factly. "There's no hooker in the world who can do what he can do. He's faster and wiser than anyone else and he's aggressive. There's nothing I could say about him that's negative."

It is hard to disagree, particularly if you care to consult YouTube. Brits, who celebrates his 29th birthday on Sunday, has all but redefined the role of hooker during his short stay in Hertfordshire. Front-row forwards are not supposed to sidestep like half-backs, sprint like wingers or collect man of the match awards on a weekly basis.

The former Stormer has scored 10 tries in 31 games and performed his set-piece duties with increasing aplomb. Others have helped inspire Sarries to their best season in years but, even in the dark midwinter days when his team were locked into tactical-kicking mode, Brits has remained a consistently creative beacon in a sea of pragmatism. Lately, his team-mates have followed his lead and the results have been startling.

Heaven knows what the Springbok selectors must be thinking as they monitor the weekly Premiership highlights. Brits has clearly been unlucky to mature in the shadow of John Smit, a fine captain and a significantly bulkier hooker, and the feisty Bismarck Du Plessis. "I just knew I was never going to get the opportunity while he [Smit] was there."

Yet imagine the lacerating attacking damage a Bok side could inflict with the spring-heeled Brits on board? Interestingly, the exile feels his game has improved since he moved. "I've learned more about scrummaging in a year in the northern hemisphere than in my whole career. South Africa have some massively powerful forwards but they've still got a lot to learn technically." If you want cosy platitudes, Brits is not your man.

Nor is he much interested in macho posturing. Since childhood, when he left his native northern Natal for the surfie haven of Mossel Bay in Western Province, he has been the sort of sportsman who responds better to freedom than restrictive coaching regimes. To his visible delight, two of his teaching mentors from his old school, Paul Roos Gymnasium, will be attending Sunday's game. Brits credits the pair with helping him through "my rebel phase" as a teenager and giving him the confidence to overcome an occasionally ambivalent feeling towards the game. "A lot of times I run on to the pitch I'm not remotely interested in playing. It is difficult getting yourself up every game. But after the first contact it's like your second nature kicks in."

The other obstacle he is now having to overcome is the sheer mental effort involved in enduring the endless English season. His eyes still sparkle as he lists the benefits of life in Europe – "I'm loving the diversity of everything ... to experience different things and go home a richer person is what it's all about" – and reveals details of an eagerly awaited summer yachting holiday in Croatia, but his body is starting to grumble.

"My body is sore. It's been a long tough season and I can't wait for it to finish. It just feels so long. In the southern hemisphere it's a sprint, here it's very definitely a marathon. Mentally, you learn quite a bit about yourself. It's insane to play more than 30 games per year, but you'll take the aches and pains for the glory."

Ah, the glory. Sarries have had precious little of it in the professional era and the timing of the Rugby Football Union's decision to summon Venter and Brits to disciplinary hearings on Tuesday could hardly be worse. Venter, who has already received a suspended four-week touchline ban this season, has been charged with allegedly pushing a female spectator at Leicester last Saturday while Brits has apologised for making an abusive gesture towards a section of the Welford Road crowd. If both are found guilty, there could be painful consequences should Saracens reach the Premiership grand final on 29 May.

Having beaten Northampton in pulsating fashion on their own ground two weeks ago, a repeat victory is clearly feasible. "We've played ourselves into a genuine position where we can win the Premiership," Venter says. "They're not just empty words, the players have performed week-in and week-out."

He is correct, up to a point, but is ignoring the sharp mid-season dip in form when Sarries lost five Premiership games out of six between Christmas and early March. The solution was a team-bonding trip to Brighton, during which it was collectively decided to adopt a more adventurous approach.

"We had a lot of beers," recalls Brits cheerfully. "I wouldn't have minded staying down there for a couple more days. Sometimes you don't need to work harder, you need to work less."

Five victories in the final six games of the regular season have, coincidentally or not, also seen Brits at his best. "Since we decided to change our gameplan there have been so many attacking highlights I can't really pick one out."

And if Saracens and Bath, as is perfectly possible, do make it to Twickenham, it will also be a significant triumph for any number of talented South Africans – Butch James, Michael Claassens, Luke Watson, Neil de Kock, Derick Hougaard, Joubert and Brits – who, for contrasting reasons, opted to sample life in the Premiership. Sarries' calculated decision to blend Springbok quality with English promise is looking shrewder by the day.