Hanyani Shimange says no Test nation can compete with the Springbok scrum, with the Bok reserves likely to provide the biggest challenge.
The world champions again imposed themselves at the set-piece in their 29-24 victory against the All Blacks at FNB Stadium last Saturday, earning four scrum penalties as well as a penalty try.
Appearing on The Boks Unpacked X The Verdict podcast, former Bok centre Jean de Villiers asked Shimange whether any scrum in world rugby could compete with South Africa’s.
“The reserve Bok one,” the former Bok hooker quipped.
ALSO: Marx, Savea are Keo’s Kings of the Series
The scrum has been a major talking point throughout the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series, with All Blacks coach Dave Rennie repeatedly accusing the Boks of “walking around” at the set-piece while raising the issue with World Rugby.
Shimange, though, believes the Boks’ dominance is simply down to the quality of their scrummaging.
“I don’t see a pack competing, to be honest,” he said.
“I mean, I’ve seen that Ireland come up with good tricks; Scotland are actually quite good; they actually want to scrum because Peter de Villiers [Scotland’s scrum coach] understands it.
“France, not really; we’ve scrummed them. Ireland, we saw what happened in Dublin. There isn’t one; we just got a super scrum.”
MORE: ‘Boks don’t need to manipulate scrum’
Fellow former Bok Schalk Burger believes the extent to which South Africa can exploit that advantage depends heavily on how the scrum is officiated.
“The contest has got to happen,” Burger said.
“So, you’ve got to give credit to the officials to actually let the contest happen [at FNB Stadium], and I don’t think it can happen with any set of referees anyway.”
WATCH: All Blacks getting away with murder
Burger contrasted that approach under Georgian referee Nika Amashukeli with the second Test in Cape Town, where Australian Angus Gardner was in charge.
“Maybe the French, they really appreciate the set-piece battle, but we’ll get a referee where most of the time, you will be asked to play it away.
“Then you won’t get rewarded for dominance, like the Cape Town Test match. We didn’t really get rewarded for the amount of dominance we had.”
SCHALLA: Losing Ardie like losing Siya
Photo: Sydney Seshibedi/Gallo Images
The post Shimmy: Bok super scrum unbeatable appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.
Hanyani Shimange says no Test nation can compete with the Springbok scrum, with the Bok reserves likely to provide the biggest challenge.
The post Shimmy: Bok super scrum unbeatable appeared first on SA Rugby magazine. Read More
