The advantage England think they may have by having the former Springbok World Cup winning scrum coach Matt Proudfoot in their ranks is cancelled out by the South African knowledge of their former mentor’s strategies and what makes him tick.
So says Thomas du Toit, the Bok tighthead who was part of the squad when South Africa won the World Cup in Japan in 2019, a tournament in which the scrum coached by Proudfoot played a decisive role, particularly in condemning England to a resounding defeat in the final in Yokohama.
Proudfoot spoke about his intimate knowledge of the Bok scrum and their techniques when he spoke to the England media this week, and highlighted the differences between the All Blacks' scrum approach in comparison to the Boks’.
“The Springboks are a different challenge from the All Blacks, who are a crafty side,” said Proudfoot.
“The Springboks have a big, heavy engagement. So, it is about that set-up and the stability. It is about scrummaging as eight against them. Where the All Blacks try to fracture you, South Africa try to break you apart.”
The England and South African scrums are among the top units in world rugby, if not the best, and scrumming is going to have a big role to play in determining the result of Saturday’s eagerly awaited match-up between the previous World Cup finalists at Twickenham. So it would be understandable if there was a bit of concern within the Bok camp at Proudfoot’s inside knowledge, but Du Toit insists that isn’t really the case.
“It is a bit of an advantage for England to have Matt working for them, as he does know us well, but conversely that’s an advantage for us too, because we know him well too,” said Du Toit, who was called up to the Bok squad after captaining South Africa A earlier on the tour due to Trevor Nyakane and Vincent Koch having to return to their French clubs.
“Matt worked with us for a long time, so he knows what makes the guys tick. But we also know what makes him tick, his strategies and techniques. It is also three years later now, three years on from when he last coached us, so our guys would also have improved and evolved as players too.”
Proudfoot has had a particularly long association with two key members of the Bok scrum, Steven Kitshoff, who is playing from the bench this week, and the starting tighthead prop Frans Malherbe. He worked with both of them for many years when he was the Western Province and Stormers assistant coach first with Rassie Erasmus and then with Allister Coetzee.
So it is going to be interesting to see what transpires on Saturday. Last year the England scrum blunted the Boks early on by surprising them in winning some early technical penalties. But as the game wore on, so the Bok scrum became more dominant and several of the 18 penalties England ended up conceding in that game were scrum penalties.
Proudfoot will know better than anyone the depth the Boks have when it comes to front-row resources, and they certainly don’t lose much, if anything, by having Du Toit on the bench rather than Koch or Nyakane. The Sharks player says he’s eagerly looking forward to what he thinks will be a titanic scrum battle.
“The England scrum has been doing well and they’ve forced a lot of scrum penalties in recent games,” said Du Toit.
“But so are we, so the match up will be good. Ellis Genge earned selection to World Rugby’s Dream team this week, so that is an indication of how good he is. If he is on the field when I come on, I am going to have to work hard on matching him. I am not sure when the subs will come on, that is up to the coaches and is dependent on what happens on the day and how the game unfolds.”