Adam Ashley-Cooper, Drew Mitchell and Matt Giteau joined the debate about the Springboks’ tactics while noting the success of the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series.
The former Wallabies on the Kick Offs and Kick Ons podcast discussed the topic that has dominated headlines since the start of the four-Test battle between South Africa and the All Blacks.
A war of words saw Rassie Erasmus unleash a fiery post-match presser in Cape Town while Dave Rennie has kept picking at the issue, his latest that World Rugby doesn’t view scrum laws the same as the Kiwis.
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Mitchell reckoned the Boks used Rennie’s grievances as fuel.
“They’ll find something and use it as motivation, right? Like, even if it’s been made to be bigger than it actually was,” he said.
“How often do we hear from their scrum coach before a Test? Never. And then all of a sudden, going into that Test, we’re hearing from [Daan Human] but because that became a talking point.
“They made it such a big deal, and you knew it was going to be a real focus.”
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Giteau felt comments from the New Zealand front row didn’t help.
“Was it [George] Bower who said, ‘We’ll just let our scrummaging do the talking’? Like, good on you, you’ve got to believe in what you think, that you can put up a great fight and your scrum is just as good.
“But talking about things to motivate people – if there’s a quote, Cheik [former Wallabies coach Michael Cheika] would have pulled that up for us for sure: ‘Look what this prop here thinks of you guys.’”
Ashley-Cooper widened the discussion to whether the scrum saga was good for the game overall.
“Everyone’s talking about walking around, but it’s like there’s a focus on the scrum, which is an integral part, but no one knows.”
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Mitchell welcomed it but drew a line at how it plays out online.
“What I don’t like are the vlogs on socials that will get an aerial view and say, ‘Oh, this referee does this, or they’re cheating, or Angus Gardner is such a cheat … Like, f**k off. Just love the game for what it is.
“Understand there’s going to be human error. No one’s intentionally trying to sway one way or the other. There’s going to be times where it was against your team; sometimes it’s for.”
Presenter James Rochford asked whether the seven games in the Republic had ticked the boxes, Giteau replying: “South Africa’s made it massive because they love the sport so much.”
Ashley-Cooper added: “I don’t think there’s a punter harder on their own team than the Kiwis. South Africans are similar, but they’ve got so much love and respect for every other nation.”
Photo: Floris van Schouwenburg/Gallo Images
The post Ex-Wallabies chime in on Bok scrum wooha appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.
Adam Ashley-Cooper, Drew Mitchell and Matt Giteau joined the debate about the Springboks’ tactics while noting the success of the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series.
The post Ex-Wallabies chime in on Bok scrum wooha appeared first on SA Rugby magazine. Read More
