Du Toit And The Bok ‘Bomb Squad’ Hold Key To DHL Stadium Showdown
Springbok prop Thomas du Toit says the team have put the disappointment of their opening defeat to New Zealand in the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry Series behind them and are determined to correct their mistakes when the sides meet again at DHL Stadium on Saturday.
The Boks arrived in Cape Town on Wednesday evening after completing their main training block in Johannesburg earlier that day. They had Thursday off to rest and switch into match mode before Friday’s captain’s run.
“The important thing was to park that game and take the learnings as quickly as we could,” Du Toit told the media in the Mother City on Thursday.
“I think we’ve done an incredible job over the last couple of years of putting each game in its own box and not looking back at what went wrong throughout the whole week, but rather trying to rectify as much as we can and fix things as quickly as possible.
“By Monday afternoon, we had a proper review, and we worked on the things that went wrong on the training field this week.”
Du Toit has been named in the replacement front row alongside Deon Fourie and Gerhard Steenekamp. While the Springboks were encouraged by periods of dominance at scrum time last week, Du Toit knows both front rows face another significant challenge this weekend.
“The scrum battle is going to be interesting, like every other week,” said Du Toit.
“We trained hard this week, and I’m sure the All Blacks have too, and everyone will try to bring their A-game on Saturday.
“Look at the Lions game against the All Blacks. You could definitely see they’ve been working on it and it’s going well for them, so we’ll do our best, but it’s something both teams pride themselves on.”
Du Toit added: “Things can change so quickly within a week, so coming off the bench it’s not just about staying at the same tempo that the starting guys deliver; it’s about trying to lift that and increase it.
“Those players did very well last week, but that doesn’t count for anything this week. We need to rectify the mistakes we made and try to build on that dominance, knowing that it starts from the ground up. No points are carried over. It starts all over again.”
Du Toit was also proud of fellow prop and teammate Ox Nche, who will earn his 50th Test cap when he takes the field. Nche will share the occasion with utility forward Pieter-Steph du Toit, who is set to become only the 11th Springbok in history to reach 100 Test caps.
“I’m incredibly grateful for him (Ox), as a player and as a person, and I’m very proud of him earning his 50th. Hopefully, we can do the job to make it a memorable one for him and Pieter-Steph,” he said.
Asked about regular Bok captain and flanker Siya Kolisi returning from injury to reclaim his place in the starting XV, Du Toit said the skipper’s return would provide a significant boost.
“It’s great to have Siya back. He worked really hard on his rehab to get back as quickly as he could, and every time he didn’t feel 100%, he was big enough to say he wasn’t ready and take an extra week for the medical team to look after him properly.
“That was a very responsible call, not only for the team but for himself too. He’s very vocal, especially at training, and that helps a lot because it gives confidence to the younger guys and the entire team.”
