Springbok scrum coach Daan Human has a simple question for those who question the legality of his team’s work in that phase around All Black coach Dave Rennie’s claim that they walk around - Why would we want to go around when we go forward?
There’s been a lot of talk around the scrum following the way the Australian referee Angus Gardner appeared to abdicate responsibility for calling the scrums during last weekend’s second Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry test in Cape Town.
The Boks won 33-26, but it did appear Gardner de-powered the Bok strength with his refusal to penalise scrum collapses on New Zealand ball.
All of this was in the wake of Rennie’s pressure brought through the media that started straight after the Ellis Park test that opened the series, with the All Black coach claiming he was unhappy with aspects of the Bok scrumming.
And last week in the buildup to the second game in the series he said he’d flagged his concerns to World Rugby.
Human was said to be livid during the game and it was clear from watching videos of the game that the Bok front row were a bit confused and frustrated with Gardner’s pedantic coaching of the two scrum units, but particularly the Boks.
However, any team management member is in big trouble with World Rugby when it comes to criticising referees, so it was understandable that Human tried to play as much as he could with a straight bat during the questioning at Tuesday’s press conference.
NO HIDING DAAN’S FRUSTRATION AT THE ACCUSATIONS
He said Gardner was consistent towards both sides, which of course he was in terms of him taking the scrum out of the game and decreasing the ball in play time through constant resets after collapses.
But there was also no hiding his frustration at the accusations from the opposition camp that he was in effect coaching his team to cheat.
“Every second guy has suddenly become a scrum coach. People are entitled to have an opinion but it is very important for us to just focus on what we do…but I don’t think I will go into the process (on this forum),” said Human before adding that he had no doubt that what the Boks was doing was legal and it had never been flagged by any other team in the past.
“If you say we are walking around then we have been walking around for the last six years, since I first became involved with Springbok rugby,” he said.
“We’re not perfect, that’s what we are striving to be, and we don’t always get it right. We need to adapt to the referee, and how he sees things, and if he addresses something we can try to do better, we try to fix it for the very next scrum. But walking around? I can promise you I have never done that. I can promise you I would never do that because we always want to go forward.
“It’s not really an ideal for us (to go sideways or around) so why would we want to do that?”
CRITICISM HAS FED DRIVE FOR GREATER PRECISION
Human said that coaching his players to walk around in the scrum would be cheating, and he was not a cheat.
“We always try to do everything 100 per cent by the book, that’s the way I have been brought up. I am a farmer. I am just a normal, straight guy - I can’t cheat. I would never say cheat or walk around. We will never work like that and I will never coach like that. If it was required that I had to do that I’d be the wrong man for the job.”
Human said that after what happened in Cape Town, the Boks were working hard on being more precise with their scrumming ahead of Saturday’s third test at the FNB Stadium outside Soweto.
“We will work even harder to be precise in what we are doing. I can’t go around the corner - it has to be straightforward scrum dominance,” said Human.
“I did take it (the criticism) to heart, to be honest with you, because that’s just not what we do. And I am not trying to justify anything here. We try to take it straight through the middle. It is straightforward. It is according to the laws. It’s frustrating that it keeps being said, but that’s part of the pressure (of being involved at international level).
“I need to handle that myself and not let it be transferred to the players. I need to get our system better in order to get results,” he added.
HOPES BOK FANS TAKE ON SCRUM CHANT LIKE NORWAY DOES ROWING
Of course much of the anti scrum narrative coming out of New Zealand is because of the threat posed to the rugby union code there of the growing popularity of rugby league, with many of the top schoolboy talents in that country now being lured by big money offers to the Australian NRL.
But Human says that scrumming is part of the South African rugby way and he can’t see that ever changing.
“What was that nation that had spectators rowing in the World Cup (FIFA). Oh yes, Norway. Scrumming is part of our rugby culture, so my ideal would be that we have our fans doing something similar to what the Norwegians do, only for us it would be motioning the scrum action. They go row, row, row. I’d love our fans to chant scrum, scrum, scrum.
“Hopefully that will happen one day. I hope so. South Africans love the game, they love the scrum, so we will do our best to perform for them because they deserve it. I get my salary for doing scrums. It is a big part of the sport. I’d be happy if there were 20 scrums in a game. It is part of the land, we like scrums.”
TAKE AWAY THE SCRUM AND YOU HAVE RUGBY LEAGUE
Human added that if the Kiwis, Aussies and others trying to get their way by negating the influence of scrums, rugby union would become a different sport - effectively rugby league.
“When there aren’t scrums, it is like the 13-man game (rugby league). There were some who tried to change it, but World Rugby decided otherwise (and endorsed the importance of the scrum in the last Shape of the Game conference).”
The Soweto test is being refereed by a Georgian, and like South Africa the Georgians place a big emphasis on the scrum, so there should be quiet optimism in the Bok camp that Nika Amashukeli will get right what Gardner got wrong in Cape Town, although it all depends of course on what he is told by his refereeing boss, the Frenchman Joel Jutge.
For Human’s part, he is pleased that one thing has been flagged by the Boks this week and should be set right in the third test, the scrum feed.
At times in the second half of last week’s game it appeared the All Black scrumhalf was almost feeding the ball into the scrum at the feet of the locks.
“The issue of the scrum feed has been addressed (with World Rugby). There must be a credible feed and there must be a hook because the rules say there must be a hook,” said Human with a wry grin.