Springboks prop Thomas du Toit insists Bath’s ‘collective journey’ under ‘uplifting’ Johann van Graan won’t be defined by Premiership final
Thomas du Toit talks about life at Bath ahead of the Premiership final.
Ahead of the Premiership final at Twickenham on Saturday afternoon, Planet Rugby’s James While sat down with Bath prop Thomas du Toit for an exclusive interview.
Leadership, his love of scrums and, of course, the small matter of the final itself was covered on Thursday as the tighthead discussed a whole host of things.
Not your average prop
Spend a little time in the company of world champion Springbok and former Sharks prop and a few things become apparent to you. Firstly, he is huge – huge by Test rugby standards and has the lean and powerful build of a true athlete. Secondly, he’s a deep thinker on the game, one that values simplicity yet possesses great personal awareness and a powerful leadership instinct. Thirdly, he loves Bath and West Country life – and whilst he absolutely relishes scoring tries, he’s never lost sight of his South African roots nor his deep desire to return to the Green and Gold of his beloved Springboks, with whom he became a World Cup winner in 2019.
According to Bath director of rugby Johann van Graan, Du Toit is now one of his key leaders within the group, but it’s a tag that the prop likes to play down.
“Johann sits at the top of this club but in reality, he is at the bottom of our pyramid – he’s a supportive leader, one that provides deep detail but then empowers and trusts his players to implement our goals, strategies and tactics, and he supports us to fulfil those by creating a decision based playing environment,” Du Toit observed.
“He’s a very uplifting and positive person to be around. There’s never an uneasy feeling in the group and whilst he’s very hands on in some aspects, he’ll trust us to create solutions to the problems we face on pitch. He won’t let us ease up in any respect, but he supports us to become problem solvers in real time – a key component of elite and Test rugby.”
Love of scrums
“Whilst I’m part of our leadership group, this isn’t something I’ve courted; it’s happened organically. There’s four or five Test level front-rowers here and we learn off each other. In point of fact, when I first arrived the Premiership scrums were a lot different to those I’d encountered elsewhere and the guys like Will (Stuart) and Beno (Obano) helped me out greatly with that. Up here it’s a more technical battle and it took time to get used to that but on the flip side, I came at scrummaging from the belief that the more complex you make it the harder it becomes – so perhaps I’ve brought them a simplicity in my personal approach that’s assisted them too.
“So, I’ve learned a lot from them. At the beginning of the season, we lacked stability and we didn’t show a great picture so we lost a few 50/50 calls. We’re better now at demonstrating stability and dominance and when you show those two things then firstly you win the battles, but secondly, the officials reward the positive picture you’re presenting,” Du Toit enthused.
“Springbok coach Daan Human has helped me greatly here – simplicity and dominance is always his message – better shape for longer, not moving around the corner, or dropping it, just legal dominant scrummaging. That way you’re taking chance out of the game; the matches move so quickly these days and refs make a snapshot decision and if you’re legal and stable, you’re more likely to get the benefit of the doubt. And I think there’s part of me as a purist that wants to win the battle legally and fairly – that’s very much part of my personal ethos and values.”
The final everyone wanted
Wishing no disrespect upon either Sale Sharks or Saracens, both Bath and Northampton Saints have played a style of rugby in the Premiership this season that’s attracted both the fans and the compliments from the pundits. Saints go into this match with a very clearly defined attacking and offloading game-plan, but with great improvement in terms of both their breakdown and set-piece physicality. Bath have demonstrated equal ambition in attack at times, but base a lot of their play around their powerful aerial game and the variety of tactic that Finn Russell and others employ almost at will.
Du Toit recognises the challenge that Saints pose, but he believes that at the core of the Bath threat is their ability to respond and adapt to the problems on the pitch in real time.
“It’s a difficult one to address,” he admitted.
“But we are really fortunate to have some amazing decision makers on the pitch, guys that can change the course of the match through skill and intellect on a real time basis. Sure, Saints also have some great problem solvers in their side too, especially at half-back. They play a very consistent but effective defensive pattern and they are detailed – just like we are.
“So, this is all about who makes the best decisions on the day – discipline is absolutely key and that’s about having self-discipline – and by that I mean having the mental clarity to make the right calls on the pitch as well presenting legal pictures to the officials at the set-piece and breakdown.
“People are expecting the ball to be flung around but it’ll be a lot tighter than you might imagine. Set-piece is always first and foremost to me – well, after all, I am a prop! But they’re strong in scrum and maul and they’ll present problems but I believe we have similar attributes ourselves. The aerial battle is a key one – controlling the contest is one thing but then owning the drop zone and area around that contest is a key focus. But finals tend to halo the set-piece as we’ve seen in recent times and that’s a key focus for us and it’s an exciting thing for us to plan for.”
The journey
Success on the rugby pitch is often measured in very binary units – win a Cup then you’ve succeeded, lose and you haven’t. But is that really the case? Van Graan has often articulated that this is a Bath journey that goes way beyond just this season, and by definition, the final itself. Du Toit is a great believer in the subjective measurement of the team and it’s his belief that Bath have already achieved something pretty special this season.
“One of the keys to our culture is that we see this as a collective journey – 60 players including the academy, the backroom staff, the media staff and so on – we are in this together and we’re all on this as a collective,” he said.
“There’s guys in that group who’ve not played even a minute but yet train as if they’re needed every single weekend and that shows the strength of characters we have around us. They rock up every day, deliver a challenge to the rest of the group and that sort of attitude is what makes this very much a collective journey.
“But you have to be realistic – the journey doesn’t finish this weekend but it definitely reaches a point – a weighbridge if you like! It’s a defined moment of objective measurement, and an important moment and we won’t lose sight of that. If it goes south then it doesn’t mean the journey is over or that we have to change the way we play or think, but yes, there’s clear understanding of the importance of the result.
“But I also want to be clear – this period at Bath has been one of the best experiences of my life and career and nothing will change that.”
Circle of trust
Very lastly, with the final ahead of him, Du Toit is equally at ease about the amount of preparation and planning both he and his teammates have done. With the final coverage reaching new highs, one of the most important things to the big Bok is the authenticity of the people around him, to shut out the noise of media and fans and choose those he seeks counsel with – and that starts with his family and his teammates.
“Come Saturday afternoon, we’ll sit in a circle and we’ll either have a pot in the middle of it or not,” he stated.
“What I do know is that everyone in that circle will have prepared meticulously and given everything to the cause. It’s their opinion that matters, it’s my family’s opinion that matters so those are the only voices I’ll listen to. I know them, they trust me and we are honest together – those are the important things in life and in rugby.”
