DESPITE DEVELOPING a keen rivalry with Andy Farrell’s men in recent years, Thomas du Toit has insisted South Africa aren’t viewing their Quilter Nations Series encounter with Ireland on Saturday at the Aviva Stadium as a grudge match.

After gaining the upper hand in the first test on Ireland’s summer tour of South Africa in 2024 with a 27-20 victory at the Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria, the Springboks were denied a second consecutive triumph over their northern hemisphere counterparts a week later in Durban’s Kings Park Stadium. 

A last-gasp drop goal from Ciaran Frawley earned the visitors a win by the slenderest of margins (25-24) on that occasion, and Ireland also edged a tense battle between the sides at the pool stages of the 2023 World Cup in France.

Ireland have also defeated the Springboks on their three previous visits to the Aviva in 2014, 2017 and 2022, but even though past showdowns often tend to stick in players’ memories, Du Toit and his colleagues aren’t focusing too much on what has gone before.

“I think the media and maybe the newspapers would like to throw it that way [that it’s a grudge match], but we don’t see it that way,” Du Toit said at a media conference in the Radisson Blu St Helen’s Hotel earlier today.

“I think what we’ve done well in the last couple of months in the two competitions [Rugby Championship and November Test Series], we’ve really taken every match and put it into its individual box, not think about the past too much.

“Trying to put the match in its own little box and trying to focus as much as we can on that specific game for that specific week. I don’t really feel that way in the team at the moment. I don’t think the team feels that way, but we are definitely putting a massive emphasis on this week, like we’ve done for every other week that we’ve been part of.”

This week-by-week approach from Rassie Erasmus and his coaching staff has certainly paid dividends as the Springboks followed their successful defence of The Rugby Championship by winning all three games they have played to date on their End of Year Tour.

Having convincingly swept past Japan in Wembley Stadium at the beginning of this month, the reigning world champions have also gotten the better of France and Italy in the past fortnight — despite playing large stretches of both games with just 14 players.

Du Toit believes the challenges they have faced in the past few weeks should have them well prepared for what awaits at Lansdowne Road this weekend, albeit he doesn’t expect Ireland to be a carbon copy of their most recent opponents.

“I think there are a couple of things that would be very similar to what we faced against France and Italy, both being unbelievably physical sides. I think the one thing that might be a little bit different is [that Ireland have] a little bit more of a structured game. Structure within structure.

“From my time playing over here and speaking to the guys who play here currently, they really understand their game very well. They understand their general play, and they also understand their set-phase plays.

“They understand it very well. They understand a couple of phases ahead. They know who they want to target. So that’s probably going to be something that’s going to be a little bit different, but it doesn’t really change anything for us. We do our homework as best we can, and we adapt on the day.”

While Du Toit previously enjoyed a brief spell at Munster during the 2016-17 season (when present Springboks chief Erasmus was at the helm), the 30-year-old prop has been playing his club rugby with English Premiership outfit Bath since 2023.

Playing under fellow South African Johann van Graan, he helped the Somerset-based side win the treble of the English Premiership, the Premiership Rugby Cup and the European Challenge Cup last term — scoring tries in the finals of both domestic competitions.

He is currently joined at Bath by the South African-born former Ireland international Quinn Roux and ex-Leinster star Ross Molony, and Du Toit was quick to sing the praises of this second row duo.

“It has been brilliant. Those guys are some of the cornerstones of our team. They play unbelievable rugby. Ross brings a different element to our team, which we really enjoy. They’re good mates of mine and I enjoy working with them,” Du Toit added.