“In my opinion, there’s no logic behind two coaches meeting together and discussing the laws with the referee.”
The way the scrums were judged by Carley in the first test was crucial with South Africa dominating the set-piece play, winning several scrum penalties until Rennie made changes to his front row. The All Blacks won a 55th-minute scrum penalty on their own line before taking over the test match with a strong final quarter.
Referee Nika Amashukeli speaks to Siya Kolisi during the Springboks record win over the All Blacks in Wellington. Photo / Photosport
“It’s impossible to discuss something with the referee with the other coach present,” Erasmus added. “I’m going to say, ‘Listen, we are concerned about this in the scrums’, and he’s going to say, ‘But we do this in the scrums’.”
“You might say, ‘These guys really clean out well at the breakdown … will you be looking at that?’ But you can’t have that discussion in front of the referee, because then the opposition coach knows that’s what you’re looking at.
“So what do you discuss with the referee? Boys, are you going to play within the laws? The laws of the game are the laws, so it’s almost impossible.”
After the first test win Rennie said scrums are always up for debate.
“We’ll always debate scrums and when you’re penalised you question whether they’re walking around,” Rennie said. “They got penalised for walking around eventually and that was probably a key moment of the game.
Amashukeli was the referee for South Africa’s record 43-10 victory in Wellington last year. The All Blacks have also lost to France (30-29) and Argentina (25-18) with Amashukeli in the middle.