Depowering the scrum would be a slap in the face, says Springbok prop Thomas du Toit

Life could hardly be better for Thomas du Toit after “the best season of my career”, but he is not amused by moves afoot to curb the Springboks’ powerful scrum.

Du Toit was at the heart of the Boks’ brutal demolition of the Ireland scrum a few weeks back. That merciless destruction of the men in green has resulted in some unions saying they want to table law changes to prevent weaker props from being penalised when they cannot keep the scrum up.

Du Toit, the English Premiership Player of the Year, says this is nonsense.

“That complete performance in the scrums in Dublin was not because it was Ireland that we were playing,” Du Toit told the English newspaper The Times. “The opposition really doesn’t matter. It’s just the fact that we were clicking and everything was working and going our way. Everyone is working towards this common goal, and when you see it happen, you’re ecstatic about it — that’s the rewarding part.”

Du Toit, who can play tighthead and loosehead equally well, has been devastating this year, especially when working in tandem with tighthead Wilco Louw. Worn-out opposition props have often ended up in the sin bin after conceding a string of penalties.

Du Toit feels this is simply a reward for hard work.

“Depowering the scrum? I find that strange because it’s like a slap in the face for the players who have been working incredibly hard to get that result,” Du Toit said.

“It’s not something that was given to us. Ireland, or whoever we played, didn’t decide they were going to go backwards in the scrum. It didn’t happen over the course of a day, or because we snapped our fingers. We’ve been grafting for years. Training sessions are brutal — they’re more difficult than the games for us.

“Now that we’ve got it right a couple of times, people go, ‘No, you can’t have that.’ I find that strange. The biggest thing to understand is that it’s not just given to us. I can promise you every team-mate of mine will testify to the fact that it’s really earned.”

Du Toit turned 30 this year and is firmly in his front-row prime. He has gone from a bit-part player who seldom started to being a vital element of the Springboks’ starting tight five.

He has an interesting take on not being selected.

“It’s very s**t sitting on the sidelines,” he said. “It’s the worst feeling. It is phenomenally difficult. I take my hat off to every person who’s done that, because I understand — I’ve gone through it.

“We talk about going from the fringe to the front line. It’s such a difficult journey, the long road, but it is definitely so rewarding. And when you understand that you are actually the person making someone else better, so that the country performs, so that the national team performs, you find a lot of peace in that. I’m grateful that I found that.”

Du Toit left the Sharks in 2023 when it became evident that Ox Nche would be preferred. He joined Bath and quickly became a firm crowd favourite.

His time in the English Premiership has also seen his all-round game blossom — he has not only been winning scrum penalties but has scored 22 tries for Bath in 55 games.

However, homesickness for South Africa has resulted in him taking up an offer to return to the Sharks. Du Toit says he wants his children — Ruben, four, and Leah, two — to grow up near their cousins, the children of his brother and sister, as well as their grandparents.

“My kids are going to grow up with the weirdest accents in the world,” he laughed. “We only speak Afrikaans to them, but they reply in English. When they try to speak Afrikaans with an English accent, that’s interesting.

“The main reason why we’re going back is for family — just to have the grandparents know the grandkids. I can travel for four hours and be on the farm, which is important to me, whereas over here it’s a little bit more difficult. There are big life moments that you miss. I want to miss fewer of them.”