Watch: Springboks crush Italy with school rugby maul trick, Esterhuizen’s versatility
The Boks dazzled with bold innovation in their rout of Italy, including a school rugby maul move and a hybrid backline experiment.
The Springboks and their full bag of tricks were on display during their entertaining 45-0 thrashing of Italy in front of a passionate crowd at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Gqeberha last night.
The Citizen reports that coach Rassie Erasmus, the ultimate innovator, was at it again as the Boks pushed the boundaries of what is acceptable in rugby, constantly looking to unsettle their Italian visitors throughout the match.
The Boks were into it from the first whistle, when flyhalf Manie Libbok deliberately kicked off short, triggering a scrum that they hoped would set the tone for a dominant set piece. However, they were penalised for an early engagement, with Italy earning a free kick.
School rugby move
But it didn’t stop there. The Boks pulled off a move they had seen from a school rugby team — lifting a player (like in a lineout) during open play to set up a midfield maul.
Incredibly, it worked on both occasions. The first led to penalty advantage after the maul was collapsed, with outside centre Canan Moodie busting over. The second saw them mauling over the line with hooker Malcolm Marx dotting down.
@yourrugbycatchup Malcolm Marx goes over from a strong maul by the Springboks!! #southafrica #rugbyhit #springbok #sprigboks #southafricarugby #italyrugby #rugbyitaly #fyp #rugbyedit #rugbyhighlights #rugbyunion #yourrugbycatchup #fyppppppppppppppppppppppp
“We actually saw [a clip of] the Paul Roos U14B side doing that move. You just get all the benefits you do in the lineout, except this time in general play. So it worked for us twice, but now people will obviously be alert to that, and we won’t be able to do it for a couple of games,” said Erasmus with a smile.
@ballcarrier A lineout in the middle of the pitch 😂😂 (🎥 SuperSport Schools) #rugby #rugbyunion #rugbytok
Seven-man scrum challenges
Bok prop Thomas du Toit had a torrid time in the scrums during his 30 minutes on the field, conceding a free kick and and a long-arm penalty for early engagement, although he also earned a penalty for the Boks with a dominant scrum.
He was replaced early by specialist loosehead Ox Nche. Erasmus explained this was purely due to the red card received by eighthman Jasper Wiese for a headbutt, which reduced the Bok scrum to seven men after 22 minutes.
“Thomas is a guy who can play both sides, loosehead and tighthead, but we think he is a better tighthead. When we were reduced to 14 men, and had a seven-man scrum, we felt we needed an out-and-out loosehead to stabilise the scrum and handle the pressure of scrumming against eight guys with seven,” said Erasmus.
“We just felt Ox is more experienced [at loosehead] and very equipped for that, whereas Thomas is a bit of a swinger on both sides. If he was at tighthead where he is more comfortable and played a little bit more, we wouldn’t have taken him off. So it was purely due to us having a seven-man scrum.”
The seven-man scrum also gave the Boks an opportunity to test out their hybrid backline once again — something they unleashed during the non-Test against the Barbarians a few weeks ago.
On that occasion, inside centre Andre Esterhuizen came off the bench for the final 36 minutes at flank. This time was slightly different as he started the game in the midfield and thus packed down in the scrums (after Wiese went off) while also playing his usual backline role.
“I think it saved us [experimenting with Esterhuizen]. We didn’t have to take a back off and put a loose forward on. On our ball, we could put Andre in at flank, and on their ball, we could have him at centre.
“So it has really worked out well for us and I must be honest, when we planned that in the beginning, I didn’t think it would help out with a red card. But it has worked out nicely for us, especially in that regard.”
