Springbok tighthead Thomas du Toit anchored South Africa’s dominant scrum in 2025. 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 in November.
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 newspaperThe 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.
Read Full Article on The Mercury
[paywall]
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 last 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.
[/paywall]
