The Sharks have not had the best start to the URC season, but the good news is that Springbok prop Thomas du Toit will be parking “The Tank” in his old space at Kings Park next year.
The Sharks have won a bidding war with Du Toit’s current English club, Bath, and French club Bordeaux, with the 30-year-old choosing to return to the green grass of home in 2026 to see out his career.
French giants Bordeaux offered big money for the 29-cap Springbok, who was a starter in most of the Springboks’ recent Rugby Championship matches, but he has preferred to return to the KZN east coast.
Du Toit is hot property after Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus often used him to soften up the opposition front row before Wilco Louw came on to finish the job.
Du Toit launched his career in Durban after finishing at Paarl Boys High and playing for the SA Schools team and the Junior Springboks. He played 116 times for the Sharks — earning the nickname “Thomas the Tank” — before joining Bath after the 2023 World Cup.
Du Toit told the podcast Maul Or Nothing that a South African lifestyle for his family swayed his decision to prefer Durban to Bordeaux.
“We did turn down the offer from Bordeaux. It was a very good offer, and we were extremely grateful for it. I had the conversation with Yannick (Bru), but we were looking more to the future with family and getting them settled. Our life is in South Africa.
“It is a family decision, one that I made for the best of my family. Over and above everything, family comes first. That’s basically the long and short of it,” said Du Toit, who may well resume running the popular coffee shop he launched at Kings Park.
After being on the Springbok fringe last year, Du Toit suddenly found himself starting five of their six Rugby Championship matches. Little wonder that he has nothing but praise for coach Rassie Erasmus.
“Rassie has got a unique ability to get the guys up for every single game and make us understand the importance of the next one.
“I always tell people we are trying to put every match into its own block, and for that week, we have got the emotional side that comes with it. You don’t look too far into the future, and you also don’t look too far backwards with the first couple of games that we lost.
“Rassie has got this unique ability to get the guys up emotionally every week. I wouldn’t say it is a theme because we don’t have weekly themes. But for us, we find it important to play as well as we can to win these big things so that we can put another badge on your belt for this team.”
Du Toit was asked which player especially shines for him.
“Jan-Hendrik Wessels is at the top; he can mostly do everything,” Du Toit said.
“You see that guy’s work rate when he runs around. It is impressive. But then I would probably throw in a guy like André Esterhuizen.
“He is a freak as a hybrid flank and centre. He is monstrous. Every time he touches the ball for the Springboks, something happens. Look at that carry when he scored that try against Beauden Barrett.
“He shrugged him off. It looked quite easy, but for a guy like him, it probably was quite easy. I would say between those two, the Boks have two freaks of nature.”
