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‘You could definitely see they’ve been working on it’: Thomas du Toit
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South Africa tighthead prop Thomas du Toit is expecting the All Blacks‘ scrum to bounce back this week after enduring a tough afternoon against the Springboks at Ellis Park in the first Test of Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series.
Though Dave Rennie’s side came away with the win in Johannesburg, their scrum was under immense pressure for the first hour of the match, with only the All Blacks’ substitute props able to stem the flow of penalties. Additionally, South Africa’s replacement props were not as destructive as Ox Nche and Wilco Louw had proven to be.
To rectify that problem, Rassie Erasmus has selected Thomas du Toit on the bench in Cape Town after preferring Zachary Porthen for the first Test, in the hope of maintaining the same scrummaging level as Louw.
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While this will surely make the Boks a stronger scrummaging outfit, du Toit said this week that he expects New Zealand to bounce back too, citing their mid-week performance against the Lions as a sign of what they have been working on.
There is also a question mark hanging over the All Blacks front-row heading into the second Test, with George Bower starting this week following Ethan de Groot’s injury and the two-cap Xavier Numia coming onto the bench.
“It [the scrum battle] is going to be interesting, like every other week,” said Du Toit.
“We trained hard this week, and I’m sure the All Blacks have too, and everyone will try to bring their A-game on Saturday.
“Look at the Lions game (against the All Blacks) you could definitely see they’ve been working on it and it’s going well for them, so we’ll do our best, but it’s something both teams pride themselves on.
“Things can change so quickly within a week, so coming off the bench it’s not just about staying at the same tempo that the starting guys deliver, it’s about trying to lift that and increase it. Those players did very well last week, but that doesn’t count for anything this week.
“We need to rectify the mistakes we made and try to build on that dominance, knowing that it starts from the ground up. No points are carried over. It starts all over again.”
