Scrum first, cake later for Ox

While currently Springbok prop Ox Nche may be more known for his twitter exploits in getting the nickname “Cake Whisperer”, the bulky prop is concentrating more on countering the Scottish scrum threat than scouring the Edinburgh streets for a sweet treat.

Nche did admit he was looking forward to his off-day in the Scottish capital to find some of the local pastries, the week has been spent looking more at the South African based setpiece threat after the Scots had destroyed the Australian scrum last weekend.

With former Springbok scrum coach Pieter de Villiers controlling things, and South African born props Pierre Schoeman and Ollie Kebble on the one side and British and Irish Lions prop Zander Ferguson likely to be on the other side, the Boks have a unique threat to their setpiece dominance this weekend.

“It is a different battle, the coach Pieter de Villiers, I worked with him at SA under-20 and SA Schools and he is a very good coach. You can see by how well they did against Australia as well. We’re expecting a different challenge, they do have some pride in their setpiece, their mauling and they’ve got a lot of reward from that. We’re expecting a good challenge there but we’re all doing our prep and we will see how we will man up to the challenge,” Nche said.

With the Boks front row working in tandem with the bomb squad replacements, Nche says the instruction is to “empty the tank” and when you’ve done the task assigned, the replacements will come.

“In every single chance you get you go full out and empty the tank, and once your job is done you get off. Every single pack, the starters have a certain job to do and the bomb squad have a certain job to do. You come off when your job is done. If its 50 minutes or 40 minutes, as long as you have done your job, that is all you should aim for.”

The decision for Nche to be Beast Mtawarira’s replacement has not been lost on him and while the sense of pride in following up such an iconic Springbok is one thing, the message is clear that he has high standards to live up to.

“It is a massive honour for me, you look at a guy like Beast who was there before me and he made sure whoever comes afterwards has very big shoes to fill. For me it is also a challenge, because I have to make sure that the opportunities I get, I leave the jersey in a much better place as well. For me it is very important and I need to use every opportunity I get to make it better.”

And the prop continued the Springbok mantra of playing down the South African influence in the Scottish side, especially in the pack.

“I wouldn't say it was extra motivation, but we have a goal to achieve on Saturday in the match. We have a plan for against their pack, not against one individual. Our focus is on our physicality and what we are good at. You have 8 South Africans in that pack against 8 scottish guys. We don’t see it as 7 Scots and Pierre. We see it as 8 Scots against 8 SA players and we want to execute our game plan.”

Either way the scrum battle is one that many are relishing, and could well set the tone for an intriguing match.