Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry has intensified after a war of words broke out between Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus and his All Black counterpart Dave Rennie over scrum interpretations, but Bok prop Ox Nche claims he simply plays to the “man in the middle.”
Rennie claimed the Boks had been “walking around” in the scrum during the second Test at DHL Stadium, which the hosts won 33-26 to level the series at 1-1.
A visibly agitated Erasmus immediately hit back, defending his team’s scrumming technique, saying: “Don’t come with that nonsense saying we’re walking around and trying to put things out in the media.”
He went further, claiming: “It was obviously a plan to get that message out, and we’re not going to stay quiet and just say, ‘You’re right, we’re walking around.’ We weren’t f*****g walking around, we’re scrumming through.”
“We’ve never, ever, ever been accused of walking around, so I don’t understand it.”
Nche, who was originally in the starting XV but eventually came off the bench to celebrate his 50th Bok appearance, backed up his coach’s comments, but added that it was ultimately up to the referee to make the final call.
“Through the years, our scrum has always tried to go right through the pack,” Nche said.
“He (Rennie) probably sees it differently, or builds a perception about our pack, but that’s why there are rugby laws, and not like actual laws where there is only one way of doing things.”
“We have laws and they are open for interpretation, and the man in the middle is always right, and we have to adapt. It’s open to interpretation.”
The All Blacks’ gameplan throughout the second Test was to limit the Boks’ dominance in the scrums by moving the ball quickly through the locks to the back for scrumhalf Cam Roigardt to clear.
Equally, the scrums were often called to reset, which infuriated Nche.
“We tried our best to make the scrum a contest,” he said. “But we had way too many resets, and spent too much time actually resetting, and the onus is on us to be better.
“I feel like you have to have your break foot, hookers left of the mark, and we tried to do that, and we didn’t get it right as we had hoped. It’s just one of those things; going into the next game, we have to adapt.”
The former HTS Louis Botha learner was, however, pleased that he could celebrate his milestone Test with a victory in respect of all those who had helped him reach this point in his career.
“Obviously, being my 50th, it would have been great to start, but then came the late change. I trust the coaches, I believe in the system, and understand I’m here because of the team, and to invest and believe in the plan, and we keep going forward,” he said.
“All I was thinking about was the people who believed in me from the beginning, the primary school coaches that said, ‘Come play rugby.’
“The high school coaches that took time out of their holidays to open the gym for us. People that believed in me when nobody really did.
“I’m just grateful, thankful for the chance. And I hope I make them proud every single game that I play.”
