The narrative around the Springboks' scrumming tactics is starting to frustrate Bok boss Rassie Erasmus.
Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus at the Cape Town Stadium ahead of the second Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry Test against the All Blacks on Saturday. Picture: Roger Sedres/Gallo Images
Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus again came out firing in defence of the Bok scrum, after the continued whining of All Blacks coach Dave Rennie, ahead of the third Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry Test at the FNB Stadium in Soweto on Saturday.
Speaking at the team announcement on Monday, Erasmus admitted his frustration of the narrative being formed around the continued attempts of the All Blacks to influence the referees through the media.
He had delivered a passionate expletive laden defence after the win in Cape Town on Saturday night, and sounded a lot calmer and more measured on Monday, explaining why it was dangerous what the All Blacks and Rennie were trying to do.
“My frustration wasn’t so much about his opinion, but when an opinion gets presented as fact. There are now clear protocols for this. You get five clips to send to World Rugby’s officiating system (AMS), and that’s where you raise your concerns,” said Erasmus.
“If I sat here and said New Zealand are cleaning out illegally at the breakdown and the referees must look into it, that’s not the protocol, that’s talking to referees through the media, and I’ve been burned by that before.
“Once you put a narrative like that out there, everybody starts focusing on it, all the media, all the podcasts, everyone starts analysing it, and a lot of people doing that analysis have no real knowledge of scrums.
“I myself wouldn’t be a person that talks with authority about scrums, but I do know how Daan (Human, Bok scrum coach) coaches the scrums.”
Legal scrumming
Erasmus reiterated that the Boks have always scrummed legally, and it has always paid off for them, so it would make no sense for them to change their tactics and start scrumming illegally, when they have always had a fair advantage.
“We will never, ever in our life say, ‘let’s walk around the team,’ because that’s not our strength, that’s not how we do it. So I’m not frustrated with the fact that Dave wants to get it out,” explained Erasmus.
“There are a lot of things I want get out about New Zealand too, and I only have five clips I can send in post-match. If I name another four here, it’s against the protocol, because the protocol is you send it through the AMS. So I can guarantee you we don’t want to put more pressure on the referees through the media.”
Erasmus is, however, looking forward to having Georgian referee Nika Amashukeli in charge of the third Test, after he was ruled out of officiating the second Test because of flu, which saw Australia’s Angus Gardner step in and produce a poor job at the scrums, which he basically refused to ref.
“Nika is a sharp referee. He comes from Georgia, he knows scrums, he’s coached Georgia, he’s played rugby himself, he knows how scrums get handled,” added Erasmus.
