‘Quite a bit of work’: Nche flags Bok concern before ‘very personal’ France battle

Ox Nche has admitted South Africa fell below their own standards at scrum time against Italy as the Springboks prepare for a considerably sterner set-piece examination against France on Friday.

The world champions cruised to a 66-7 victory in Turin at the weekend, but Nche has conceded the Italians caused problems in one area in particular and believes the Bok pack were guilty of becoming too loose.

“The Italians put a lot of pressure on us,” said Nche when speaking to the media this week.

“We’ve reviewed the game, and there’s quite a bit of work we have to do because we fell a bit out of system and we just weren’t on the same page as a pack. They were definitely more determined than we were, and I think we were just a bit loose.

“But we have solutions for that, and we’ll certainly look to fix it and put in a performance that matches our standards when this weekend.”

While it would be a stretch to say South Africa were defeated in the scrum by the Italians, they did not enjoy their usual dominance and flow of penalties. After a first half in which there was parity in the scrum, it was actually the Bok pack that found themselves being marched back first and on the wrong side of Eoghan Cross’ whistle shortly after the break. It was only in the final quarter, once Nche had left the field, that the world champions started to have some success in the scrum.

Rassie Erasmus has since made only one change to his starting XV for Friday’s meeting with France, with Wilco Louw, the stronger scrummager of South Africa’s tighthead options, swapping places with Thomas du Toit.

That adjustment comes before facing a French pack Nche expects to relish the contest.

“They love the scrum,” he said.

“They have a lot of big and heavy boys, who want to scrum, and that French team is a good example of rugby being a game for all shapes and sizes.

“They are really good at scrummaging, and you can see they’ve been very consistent throughout the Six Nations, and even with their teams in the European competitions, so they definitely bring a challenge similar to playing a local derby.

“It’s very personal for the guy you’re coming up against, and that’s probably the difference.”

France enter the match with a growing injury list, particularly at fly-half, but Nche does not believe that makes them any less dangerous.

“They’re a very dangerous team, and they definitely have options in the squad, and they’ve created quite a good culture of giving the younger guys game time against top nations on their tours over the last two years or so,” he said.

“So, we don’t see them differently than we did last season. They have very good players, who all understand the system, and they’ll be looking to implement it in their own way, so we’re just as focused as we were for the game last year.”