Springbok scrumhalf Cobus Reinach picked up the man-of-the-match award after making hay behind a powerful forward pack.
Springbok scrumhalf Cobus Reinach had a front row seat to one of the most destructive scrumming performances in recent history, as the Bok pack monstered the Argentinian scrum at Twickenham on Saturday, which set them up for a 29-27 win to retain their Rugby Championship title.
It was a site to behold, seeing the Los Pumas forwards being pushed backwards at almost every single scrum, including — incredibly — against seven men at two scrums at the start of the match.
An early yellow card to Bok centre Canan Moodie saw the Boks decide to put a forward in the backline to try negate the overlap in the backline twice on Argentina’s scrum ball. The first time, the Pumas managed to get the ball out despite going backwards, while the second time saw the Boks win a tighthead.
It was magical to watch for a Bok fan, and the immense power of the best loosehead prop on the planet, Ox Nche, is just a joy to behold on game day, although Malcolm Marx and Thomas du Toit played their part as well.
Even when the Boks changed up the front row in the second half, Wilco Louw, Jan-Hendrik Wessels and later Bongi Mbonambi continued the carnage, as Argentina’s pack continued to be decimated.
Argentina’s only brief moment of success came in the last scrum of the match, when young 20-year-old replacement Tomas Rapetti won a penalty on a Bok put it, but it looked like he had scrummed in on Louw, who went to ground and was penalised.
After the match, SuperSport commentator Matthew Pearce asked Reinach how it felt playing behind such an incredible pack of forwards.
Best job in the world
“It’s good,” stated Reinach with big a laugh.
“It’s probably one of the best jobs in the world when you have a pack like this. They do all the hard work and make my job easy. So we will give them a lot of beer tonight.”
Reinach was awarded the man-of-the-match award, after an impressive showing from the 35-year-old veteran that saw him score two tries, and keep the Boks on the front foot with top service and solid kicking throughout the match.
Speaking about the enormity of the Boks going back-to-back in the competition, Reinach said they were still a work in progress, as shown by them being pushed by Los Pumas right until the final whistle.
“It’s unreal. We spoke about it the whole week, we have never won it back-to-back. So it shows how much character this team has. We are still growing and there are still a lot of improvements to make, but we are slowly getting there,” said Reinach in his television interview.
“You aren’t just going pitch up and run over them [Argentina]. You have to break teams down and it takes sometimes 50, 60 or 70 minutes to do that.
“Argentina, credit to them, they are unreal. They have a lot of dog in them. They are very similar to us, they don’t stop, they keep fighting, so it was tough.”
