Last year it was confirmed that Springbok prop Thomas du Toit – who had been at the Durban-based Sharks since 2014 – was heading to England to join Premiership club Bath.
It came at a time when he had begun to slip onto the periphery of the Springbok side, having only played in six Tests between 2020 and 2023, while he also missed out on the World Cup squad last year.
The decision to leave South Africa was not an easy one in the end.
“It’s definitely emotional,” Du Toit told Rugby365 on the eve of his departure. “On the one hand, it’s hurting a little bit leaving, but on the other side, it is exciting.
“You are a bit naive if you don’t think about it and you don’t work through those emotions. It’s something I have been processing.”
Thomas du Toit, the 18-cap Springbok prop, has gone on to enjoy great success overseas
The 28-year-old has ultimately made a huge success of his time with Bath, becoming a mainstay in the team after just one season.
This past weekend, his incredible impact was also rewarded with two major accolades as he was named by Bath as their ‘best forward’, while also claiming the sought-after ‘Players’ Player award’.
Major impression
Recently, coach Johann van Graan described the massive impact of Du Toit as “gold”.
“I saw an opportunity from a salary cap perspective that you need a prop that can play both sides of the scrum and I searched for, in my view, the best player in the world that fits that and Thomas has been even better than expected,” the South African coach told RugbyPass.
“He is durable, he can play 80 minutes as a loosehead and as a tighthead. He is incredibly good as a defender because that what tightheads need to do. They need to scrum, they need to defend, and then if you can add the things that he can do.
“He can poach, he is explosive. Some of the tries he has scored from 20 yards out. The try against Northampton, but what he has added to his game now is he is one of the best two or three metres out.
“In my view the guys who are close to the best in the world, guys like (Andrew) Porter, like (Gavin) Coombes of Munster, Thomas du Toit is there now with two or three metres out. The number of times he will touch the ball and he scores.
“The next bit is he is incredibly disciplined. He doesn’t really give scrum penalties and he is dependable. So yeah, he has become a very big player for us.”
Interestingly, Du Toit has scored a host of tries, which is quite an unusual contribution for a prop.
“Yeah look, I’m loving it here in Bath,” he admitted in an interview with Planet Rugby.
“We are living in Corsham which is just outside of Bath and what’s nice about it is we’re basically finding both sides of the social spectrum.
“We are in a smaller village where we know a lot of the people – we know the local coffee shop owner and we know the local florist; there’s a real community feel here. And then we get to Bath to experience the city life and see the beautiful scenery and architecture that this area and Bath have to offer. So honestly. in our opinion, we’ve got best of both worlds for now and both my partner and I are thoroughly enjoying it.
“Look, I’m a prop and getting on the scoresheet so often feels a bit weird,” he added in reference to his try-scoring tally. “I’ve never scored like this and for some reason it’s just happening. I much prefer scrum penalty over a try so I’ll leave it at that!” he quipped.
“I’m pretty happy with both the way things are happening on the pitch but also my time in Bath off the field too.”
