Dave Rennie's 12-word verdict on the Springbok scrum in Soweto

All Blacks head coach Dave Rennie delivered a short and sweet summation of the scrum battle after his team fell to a 29-24 defeat to the Springboks at FNB Stadium, giving his opponents credit for their dominance.

After a more even scrum battle in Cape Town, the South African pack were back to their best in Soweto, proving too powerful for the visitors and using their advantage to great effect.

Of New Zealand’s front rowers in the Test, George Bower and Fletcher Newell emerged from the 80 minutes with two penalties to their names respectively, while Tyrel Lomax and Xavier Numia each conceded one. A 36th-minute penalty try epitomised the Bok dominance, levelling the scoreboard in the ever-crucial five minute-period before halftime.

Rennie, who has been outspoken when assessing South Africa’s scrum tactics in recent weeks, offered an uncharacteristically short answer when the topic was broached in Saturday’s post-match press conference.

“They got rewarded for dominance at times, so no issues with that,” he stated.

Rennie used his team naming press conference on Thursday to bow out of the ongoing scrum saga, saying he was no longer interested in giving the topic any airtime after the third scrum-related question of the media session was put to him.

“I’ve made comments, we’ve shared stuff with the officials, and the Springboks have done the same thing. It’s now up to the referee and his support staff to referee what he sees in front of him,” the Kiwi coach remarked.

Following the Soweto Test, stand-in captain Luke Jacobson had more to say when asked for his two cents on his team’s performance in the scrum.

“Look, I think we laid down some good scrums there. There was obviously the one that they scored off, which dented us, but I thought it was competitive,” he reflected.

“The Springboks probably got a little bit too much momentum there, as they did in one of those lineout mauls.”