Thomas du Toit

Thomas du Toit

Personal information
Full name	Thomas Joubert du Toit
Born	5 May 1995 Cape Town, South Africa
Height	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Weight	130 kg (20 st 7 lb)
School(s) attended	Paarl Boys' High School
Club information
Playing position	Prop
Current club	Sharks
Youth career
2008	Boland Cavaliers
2011–13	Western Province
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps^â€	(Pts)^â€
2014–	Sharks (Currie Cup)	25	(15)
2014–	Sharks	11	(5)
Representative team(s)^‡
2013	S.A. Schools	2	(0)
2014–	S.A. Under-20	9	(10)
2014	Barbarians	2	(5)
* Senior club appearances and points correct as of 12 October 2015. † Appearances (Points). ‡ Representative team caps and points correct as of 22 June 2015.

Thomas Joubert du Toit (born 5 May 1995 in Cape Town) is a South African rugby union player, currently playing with the Sharks.^[1] His regular position is prop.

Career

Youth

Du Toit represented Boland at the Under-13 Craven Week competition in 2008 and Western Province at the 2011 Under-16 Grant Khomo Week and 2013 Under-18 Craven Week competitions. He played for the Paarl Boys' High School first team in 2012 and 2013,^[2] also captaining the side in 2013.^[3]

In 2013, Du Toit was included in the South African Schools side that played in three matches in August of that year.^[4] He made a substitute appearance in a 19–14 victory match over England in Crawford,^[5] played the entire second match – a 17–13 victory against France in George^[6] and was an unused substitute in their final match, a 14–13 win over Wales in Worcester.^[7]

Du Toit then opted to move to Durban to join the Sharks academy for 2014.^[8]

He was included in the S.A. Under-20 side for the 2014 IRB Junior World Championship.^[9]

In 2015, he was included in the S.A. Under-20 squad that toured Argentina.^[10] He started both of their tour matches^[11][12] and was then included in the final squad for the 2015 World Rugby Under 20 Championship.^[13] He started all three of their matches in Pool B of the competition; a 33–5 win against hosts Italy,^[14] a 40–8 win against Samoa which saw Du Toit score South Africa's first try of the match in the seventh minute^[15] and a 46–13 win over Australia^[16] to help South Africa finish top of Pool B to qualify for the semi-finals with the best record pool stage of all the teams in the competition. Du Toit started their semi-final match against England, but could not prevent them losing 20–28 to be eliminated from the competition by England for the second year in succession.^[17] He started their third-place play-off match against France, scoring his second try of the tournament to help South Africa to a 31–18 win to secure third place in the competition.^[18]

Senior career

With no prior first class rugby behind his name, Du Toit was a surprise inclusion in the Sharks squad for the 2014 Super Rugby season.^[19] Still finding himself behind the likes of Tendai Mtawarira in the pecking order, however, he dropped down to the Sharks XV squad for the 2014 Vodacom Cup season.^[20] He made his senior debut on 7 March 2014, against the Border Bulldogs in East London.^[21] He came on as a half-time substitute and scored his first senior try just 15 minutes after coming on. His first start came three weeks later against the Free State XV in Bloemfontein.^[22]

References

1. "SARU Player Profile Thomas du Toit". South African Rugby Union. Retrieved 13 March 2014.
2. "Union Sports Group Profile : Thomas du Toit". Union Sports Group. Retrieved 7 April 2014.
3. "Captain's profile: Thomas du Toit". Rugby365. 1 August 2013. Retrieved 7 April 2014.
4. "2013 South African Schools season". South African Rugby Union. Retrieved 7 April 2014.
5. "Match Breakdown: South Africa vs England". South African Rugby Union. 9 August 2013. Retrieved 7 April 2014.
6. "Match Breakdown: South Africa vs France". South African Rugby Union. 13 August 2013. Retrieved 7 April 2014.
7. "Match Breakdown: South Africa vs Wales". South African Rugby Union. 17 August 2013. Retrieved 7 April 2014.
8. "U19 Sharks Contracted Player for 2014". High School Sports Magazine. 21 January 2014. Retrieved 7 April 2014.
9. "Junior Springboks named for JWC 2014". South African Rugby Union. 22 April 2014. Retrieved 22 April 2014.
10. "SARU names Junior Bok squad for Argentine tour". South African Rugby Union. 29 April 2015. Retrieved 29 April 2015.
11. "Los Pumitas cayeron ante Baby Boks por 25 a 22". Unión Argentina de Rugby (in Spanish). 12 May 2015. Retrieved 21 May 2015.
12. "Los Pumitas cayeron ante Baby Boks por 39 a 28". Unión Argentina de Rugby (in Spanish). 16 May 2015. Retrieved 21 May 2015.
13. "Liebenberg to lead Junior Boks at U20 World Championship in Italy". South African Rugby Union. 20 May 2015. Retrieved 20 May 2015.
14. "Match Breakdown: Italy U20 vs South Africa U20". South African Rugby Union. 2 June 2015. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
15. "Match Breakdown: South Africa U20 vs Samoa U20". South African Rugby Union. 6 June 2015. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
16. "Match Breakdown: South Africa U20 vs Australia U20". South African Rugby Union. 10 June 2015. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
17. "Match Breakdown: South Africa U20 vs England U20". South African Rugby Union. 15 June 2015. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
18. "Match Breakdown: France U20 vs South Africa U20". South African Rugby Union. 20 June 2015. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
19. "Sharks 2014 squad" (Press release). Sharks. 11 February 2014. Retrieved 11 February 2014.
20. "2014 Sharks XV Vodacom Cup season". South African Rugby Union. Retrieved 7 April 2014.
21. "Match Breakdown: Border Bulldogs vs Cell C Sharks XV". South African Rugby Union. 7 March 2014. Retrieved 7 April 2014.
22. "Match Breakdown: Toyota Free State XV vs Cell C Sharks XV". South African Rugby Union. 21 March 2014. Retrieved 7 April 2014.