Former All Blacks number eight Kieran Read has given insight into the scrum battle and believes Dave Rennie may have a point about the Springboks’ tactics.
The ex-loose forward packed down many times during his career, which included facing off against some fearsome South African sides.
While it was only the end of Read’s playing days that coincided with Rassie Erasmus’ arrival and the Boks’ consistent dominance in the set-piece, he believes that they are still using a similar technique.
Read breaks down scrum battle
“It’s interesting. Ox (Nche) is the most dominant and the looseheads are always the most dominant; it’s going to look like it’s going that way, but the South Africans have always got a very clever way of shearing in with their tighthead,” he told the GBRANZ podcast.
“That allows them to move left and then around you. I’m sure the All Blacks are expecting it, they didn’t deal with it in that first Test but [in the second] they dealt with it. If you get our hooker to do the right job on their tighthead, it actually helps our tighthead to scrum straight.”
This debate has come after Dave Rennie accused the Springboks of “walking around” in the scrum, which led to a furious reaction from Springboks boss Erasmus.
But Read has suggested that Rennie and the All Blacks may be on the right side of the argument. “You could look at every scrum and say there are things going on. From a New Zealand point of view, we’re pretty straight scrummagers,” he said.
“South Africans scrum their own way and that’s slightly on an angle, that’s how they have done it for years and years. They might think they’re going straight. It’s not illegal what they do potentially because you can’t really pick it up but the outcome maybe at the end of it [could be illegal].”
Read then went into a bit more depth in how he sees the Boks are scrummaging, adding: “They’re pushing across to the left so their tighthead and hooker are pushing across to the left.
“What they are trying to do is basically depower our hooker who is the connection point between our scrum, and basically make sure he can’t push. They’re squeezing him and, going there, our tighthead is left a little bit hung out to dry if they get that right. It’s a tactic that has been used, and they are still using that.
“You’ve got to say from an All Blacks point of view, they have reviewed last week and did a pretty good job, and even got a little bit of reward at some stages on their own ball.”
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Rassie Erasmus’ accusation
Erasmus also placed the blame for the collapsed scrums at the feet of the All Blacks, but Read disagreed with the Springboks boss’ assessment. “The ball’s out, the ball’s gone, that’s what refs are looking for,” he said. “What you’ve got to look at is the Springboks’ scrum quite high.
“They’re big boys, they’re big bodies. The All Blacks technically want to be lower and get in a great position and that’s where you will find a lot of times where we pancake because sometimes the opposition might not take the hit.
“They might be a bit high, the bind might not be strong enough. If one thing’s slightly off, the scrum is going to go down which is unfortunate. The heights are slightly different. They’re bigger so they’re slightly above us. You would say lower is power and better.
“If we get it right, we should be in a better position being lower. If you look at anything around the game and the maul and the breakdown, the lower person generally wins, the lower body will win. It’s an interesting watch. You’ve got to praise our team for sticking at it.”
READ MORE: Kieran Read: ‘People would say Rassie Erasmus has always lost his head’