Scrum coach Daan Human delivered a calm yet defiant defence of South Africa’s scrum following the explosive war of words between the Springboks and All Blacks surrounding the set-piece.
The feud ignited ahead of the second Test in Cape Town, where All Blacks head coach Dave Rennie publicly raised concerns to World Rugby both before and after the Test, alleging the Boks were illegally “walking around” the mark to force scrum penalties.
Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus fired back, furiously rejecting the claims as a manufactured narrative designed to sway match officials ahead of the third Test at FNB Stadium in Soweto this weekend.
Human, speaking at a press conference in Johannesburg on Tuesday, took a pragmatic view of the growing hysteria, which has now also moved online with all sorts of experts having their say.
“It’s quite interesting,” Human remarked on the sudden influx of commentary. “It looks like every second person has now become a scrum coach.
“Of course, it’s a good thing that people have an opinion, but for us it’s important to have an opinion on what we do and how we do it.
“The scrum is for us a very important thing in our team, it’s part of our culture. People will have their opinions, but it’s not really easy to understand what is happening in the scrum.”
Addressing Rennie’s specific accusations that South Africa manipulates their scrum angle illegally, Human was straightforward in letting everybody know exactly how they have been operating under his guidance.
“If you say we have been walking around, then we have been walking around for the past six years, ever since I have been a part of Springbok rugby,” he said.
“Walking around? I can promise you I have never coached that. I actually want us to go forward on both sides and with the whole scrum. It’s not actually ideal for us to walk around.”
Human also weighed in on the policing of the “brake foot” rule — introduced by World Rugby to prevent axial loading by requiring hookers to keep a foot forward to absorb neck pressure during the bind.
The talk around the Boks’ scrum seemed to influence referee Angus Gardner, who spoke down to Springboks hooker Malcolm Marx at one point when policing the brake foot before the scrum was set.
Marx appeared visibly shocked that Gardner addressed him in such a condescending manner, while the All Blacks escaped punishment on multiple occasions when their scrum collapsed.
“It [the new laws around the brake foot] was brought in to take away the pressure on the necks of the front row,” Human noted.
“Is it helping? I still see some heads on shoulders. We need to deal with it, it’s part of the rule and as long as it’s handled for both teams, then we are basically happy.”
