Thomas du Toit: Bath have brought the try-scorer out in me

Thomas du Toit has a try-scoring record for Bath that would put most wingers to shame, with the Springbok prop dotting down for the seventh time this season in last weekend’s 48-14 Premiership Rugby Cup final win over Exeter.

Not that du Toit would have known it, as he’s not one for personal glory, but the 45th-minute score at Sandy Park saw him pass a significant milestone in a club career that in the main, has been played in South Africa with the Sharks, but has also included spells in Europe with Munster, Toulouse, and now Bath.

The versatile prop has scored 19 in just 41 appearances in blue, black and white, an incredible return for a player in any position let alone one where meat pies normally mean something to eat, and one more than he managed in the entirety of his club career elsewhere (18 in 181 appearances). Even his solitary try for the Springboks in 21 Tests – against Scotland last November – came as a Bath player.

But, for du Toit, try-scoring is only important in the context that it is helping the team to do well.  “I have never really been in a position where I expect to be scoring tries. The way that I see the game is just so different to, I would say, most other people when it comes to scoring tries,” he said.

“I want to do my job very well. I want to play rugby well for my team and if that means the opportunity presents to score a try, then that happens. But I feel just as I can do it, the other guys can also get opportunities. It just seems like it is coming my way more often.”

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Du Toit’s try-scoring reputation is reflected by the fact that the odds on him scoring a try are shorter than several backs in Sunday’s West Country derby against Gloucester, kick-off 15:00 at The Rec.

Only back-three players, Tom de Glanville and Ruaridh McConnochie, with eight, have scored more tries for Bath this season than the 29-year-old ‘tank’. But the South African is not the only Bath prop to find his way over the try line. Francois van Wyk has contributed three, including a priceless matchwinner against Harlequins in October, Beno Obano and Will Stuart have a couple apiece and young Scott Kirk has one.

Converting pressure close to the opposition try line into tries has become a Bath speciality, and they normally take the most direct route. The Gallagher Premiership leaders have clocked up 301 pick-and-goes from 1,439 carries in the league this season, at an average of 27.4 per game (source: Oval Insights), and they have made more than double the amount of post-contact metres with this form of up-the-jumper play.

Du Toit commented: “I have said it multiple times in the past but I genuinely think that the coaches at Bath have seen something that can potentially be of benefit to me and my game and they have taken that and taught me the art of scoring tries closer to the line, pick-and-going, and putting that into my arsenal.

“Everyone is on the same page, to want to achieve closer to the line. So I would say a lot of that is because of what the coaches have taught us as a group and the opportunities just seem to be coming my way.”