There are two things that are guaranteed to get Thomas du Toit’s attention: scrums and meat. So what better way to begin an interview with the South African than by opening a packet of biltong from the supermarket at Bath train station.
‘Tender and succulent lean beef,’ says the Springbok prop, known as ‘the Tank’, wincing as he reads the description on the packet. ‘That’s your problem. Lean. It can’t be lean. It needs to have fat on it. Come to my house if you want biltong!’
Du Toit eats his fair share of meat to maintain his 21st 4lb physique. He comes from thick-set farming stock and has grown into one of rugby’s most uncompromising front-rowers.
‘Growing up, we made a lot of our own boerewors (spiral sausage) and biltong,’ he says. ‘Any thickness, any amount of fat we like. Working with meat has been part of my life. We are mainly wheat farmers but we’ve got cattle and sheep.
‘I make biltong at home in Bath now but the way I make it, it’s never the same. I just chuck salt and go crazy with all the stuff. There’s a batch in the rack now. I do about 4.5kg (10lb) of silverside beef a time. A couple of slabs, from the bum.
‘You wouldn’t find a South African who would say no to it. I joke with people that my typical diet in South Africa is beef and beer. Every time I go home my weight actually drops. I eat more of the right foods when I’m in competition!’
Thomas du Toit eats his fair share of meat to maintain his 135kg physique. He comes from thick-set farming stock and has grown into one of rugby’s most uncompromising front-rowers
Du Toit is a Premiership champion after beating Leicester in this year’s final, in which he scored a try as Bath ended 29 years without a title
This year, the meaty tighthead has solidified his reputation as one of the best in the world. He has taken ownership of the No 3 jersey for the Springboks, who have built the most powerful scrum ever seen in the game. Their mindset was forged by Du Toit’s predecessors but the Rassie Erasmus regime has taken the set-piece to levels never seen before.
‘I didn’t come from a family of rugby watchers,’ explains Du Toit, who grew up in the Western Cape. ‘I never went to matches when I was younger. I was 18 or 19 when I first watched a match at a stadium.
‘Rugby wasn’t a big thing in my household but you would always have talks of Os du Randt. When I first got into rugby, one of my big idols was Jannie du Plessis. I was privileged enough to play with him. I played with Tendai (Mtawarira, the “Beast”) too.
‘It’s definitely a mentality; going into a scrum and wanting to dominate. A lot of teams have gone away from the fundamentals of scrummaging: We know how to scrum so what’s the next step?
‘For the last few years, the Springboks have just stuck to real basic things. Not talking the talk. When there’s big weeks, we work it right, we don’t talk it right. It doesn’t feel like the Springboks go technical about things. It’s more about just showing dominance, being stronger, being lower, being more physical.
‘There’s a mentality about wanting to go forwards. There’s a real buy-in from everyone. It’s not a front-row thing or a tight-five thing. It’s not even just a pack thing, it’s a whole-team thing. They really go hard at it and use it as one of the key weapons in the team.’
Turbo-charged by their set-piece, the Springboks are favourites to win a third consecutive World Cup in 2027, a feat that has never been achieved before. Erasmus is a master of sporting psychology, turning every scrum into a battle of body and mind.
‘Rassie’s very good when it comes to the emotional side of players and getting people up for a game,’ says Du Toit. ‘Understanding how important a game is. He gets his message across very well. The fact he is a South African with a typical South African background resonates with the players.
Du Toit is part of the fearsome Springbok front row that has monstered all in its path
The Boks are led by Rassie Erasmus and his unique brand of genius
‘To be completely fair to him, he’s being doing it for years and he’s very good at it. He’s been coaching since a young age and has years of work with a lot of other fantastic coaches. He’s taken a lot of the good things and left some of the bad stuff. We’re seeing the product of it now.
‘It’s great to have him giving you an understanding of the whole situation. Why you make it personal. If you look at a Test match, you’re fighting for your country, and the other team is fighting for their country. In South Africa you’ve got over 60million people looking at you so you’re fighting for every individual that’s looking up to you.
‘You can’t break. When you’ve got that many people putting you on a pedestal, it’s wrong to be tired or to not give your best. It’s a little bit selfish. The opposition team also has millions of people looking up to them and that’s what makes it personal.’
Discussions have been held about depowering the scrum, which would be a crime against one of rugby’s specialist arts. There have been recommendations to remove yellow cards for scrum penalties, which would work against the dominant Springbok pack.
‘When a scrum is dominant it should be rewarded,’ says Du Toit. ‘Everyone uses the phrase, “putting lead into someone’s legs”. The slow poison.
‘I would say most scrums, when you’ve got the dominance, you want the damn wall to break. You have to keep knocking at it.
‘You have to earn the grace and the dominance and the 50-50 calls. That doesn’t happen within a game, it doesn’t happen over a couple of games, it happens over the course of a whole season. Showing the right pictures and trying to be as clean as possible.
‘The yellow card thing is interesting. It’s not for me to say whether it’s right or wrong but when a team is dominant, it should be rewarded.’
South Africa are double World Cup champions and now going for a three-peat in Australia in 2027
Du Toit will leave Bath next summer after three seasons at the Rec, having agreed a deal with his first club, the Sharks
Establishing the same level of scrum dominance at club level is a trickier equation.
Scrums in the PREM are often faster, used as a means of launching an attacking play, rather than a long test of will. Line-ups are rotated more often and there is less of a narrative around the set-piece.
‘At Bath we’ve obviously got a different way of training the scrum,’ he says. ‘Every team in the world has a different way of training. The key difference, with the Premiership season being stop-start, is that it’s about gelling as quickly as you can.
‘If you’ve got different combinations with your front row and your back five, you’ve basically got one or two days in the week to figure that out.
‘As the season goes along, you build those connections and you start gelling together better as a pack. It’s a little bit more disruptive in the Premiership set-up.
‘When you’re with the Springboks, you’re there for a whole campaign and you scrum with your front row most of the time. That little bit of continuity is the thing that makes a difference.’
Will Stuart’s season-ending injury means Bath need to reorganise their front-row combinations in their bid to retain their PREM crown. Stuart operated in tandem with Du Toit but the Englishman’s injury means Billy Sela, Archie Griffin and Kieran Verden have all been called into action.
This is Du Toit’s final season with Bath and he believes the understudies are ready to step up for the club’s title challenge.
Tom Dunn (left) and Du Toit have been a superb pairing of their own, while England’s Will Stuart is waiting in the wings to come back in next season when fit again
‘Leaving Bath was probably one of the most difficult decisions of my life. I’m so looking forward to the rest of my time here. I’m trying to make every second count.’
He will return home to South Africa next summer, taking up a contract with the Sharks, where he began his professional career in 2014.
‘Playing overseas is one of my biggest advantages,’ he says. ‘Being able to be coached by different coaches and playing with different team-mates from different countries. Having all of that input is a massive advantage the Springboks have at the moment.
‘With players in South Africa, Japan, URC, the Premiership, bringing all of that back to the Springboks is a massive advantage. It’s been big for me. I’ve grown so much at Bath and I’m unbelievably grateful for it.
‘Leaving Bath was probably one of the most difficult decisions of my life. I’m so looking forward to the rest of my time here. I’m trying to make every second count.’