All Blacks prop George Bower has message for the Bok scrum

All Blacks loosehead George Bower has made it clear he does not fear packing down against the Springboks in the third Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry test in Soweto and is relishing another head-to-head that could have a major bearing on the result.

With the series tied 1-1 after the Springboks won the second test after losing the opener, the scrum has become the focal point for both coaches after All Blacks head coach Dave Rennie accused the Boks of walking around the scrum. Opposite number Rassie Erasmus responded strongly in defence of his players and all week the home side has dismissed the All Blacks attacks.

Against this background, Bower told the media: “Oh, I love to scrum. I want to scrum. There’s been a lot of talk around both sides of the scrum, but it comes down to that first scrum. We’ll see who does the talking.

“I know South Africa’s mindset is they pride themselves on their scrum, and they see it as their avenue to get penalties and move up the field. For us as well, you can see after Test one our mindset for our scrum is we’re right up there as well.

“We want to challenge them. We know they’re coming, but we’re coming too. I want to scrum and I know my back five want to scrum as well. As a pack, we must just focus on our connection and tightness, our brace and our set, and hopefully that nullifies what the South Africans bring this weekend.”

Rennie has opted to make a key change to the man who will be alongside Bower with Codie Taylor, who normally leads the pre-match Haka, dropped for hooker Asafo Aumua, while Sam Darry starts at lock and Peter Lakai takes over the No. 6 jersey.

Having started a war of words about the Boks walking around the scrum, Rennie has now tried to play the controversy down, saying: “We certainly aren’t going out of our way to create narratives and I don’t see this as a war of words between myself and Rassie Erasmus.

“I said a couple of things and he said a couple of things. I’m just thinking: do I bother giving this any more air? You know, I’ve made comments, we’ve shared stuff with the officials. I think the Springboks have done the same thing, so it’s now up to the referee and his support staff to referee what he sees in front of him.”