'Walking around': Rennie questions Springbok scrumming tactic after set piece struggle

The All Blacks scrum came under immense pressure all afternoon in Johannesburg with the visitors unable to stabilise the set piece until the reserve front rowers came on.

The Springboks used their strength to their advantage, looking to shove the All Blacks off the ball at every opportunity. When halfback Cam Roigard couldn’t get the ball out quickly, the All Blacks were penalised on their own feed multiple times.

South Africa flexed their advantage at scrum time but a key reversal came when the home side doubled down on scrums after winning a penalty in front of the posts, turning down points to go again with the score at 19-16.

The front row replacements for the All Blacks, George Bower, Asafo Aumua, and Fletcher Newell, were able to strengthen the set piece and turn the tables with a penalty of their own in the 55th minute.

All Blacks head coach Dave Rennie said he questioned whether the Springboks were ‘wheeling’ the scrum continuously by ‘walking around’, which he said ended up being penalised in that key moment.

“We will always debate scrums, and I reckon every team does,” Rennie said post-match on the set-piece battle.

“When you get penalised, you question whether they’re walking around. They got penalised for walking around eventually, and and that was probably a key moment in the game.”

The All Blacks were further aided by the Springboks losing two players in the final 10 to yellow cards, including a flanker. Rennie revealed that loosehead prop Ethan de Groot played through illness.

“We got great impact off the bench. De Groot to be fair, was crook overnight, and but yeah, like we’re really happy with the effort up front, and scrum was really solid in that last sort of 30.

“Gruda [De Groot] went home early from the captain’s run yesterday and spent a large time in bed. And you know he’s tough and he barred up and gave us plenty.”

The All Blacks will have a different starting front row next week after De Groot and lock Josh Lord were forced off after a nasty head clash with each other late in the first half.

They will underdog assessments and go through return to play protocol but Rennie was realistic about their chances of playing.

“They’re only only two injuries tonight. Obviously, a head clash, which is problematic long term. Then obviously neither those guys can play on Tuesday, and probably can’t play Saturday, depending on the protocols and what happened on the sidelines.”

Captain Ardie Savea was pleased with the composure the forwards showed to lift the set-piece and win a penalty at the key moment.

“We talked about being composed under tight, tight moments, and you can just hear the boys really present in the moment, and what you can ask for as a leader is just everyone do the job, and everyone did that,” he said.