Dave Rennie has revealed the All Blacks' plan to seek clarity from the officials about the Springboks' scrummaging tactics during the second Test in Cape Town.
Rassie Erasmus was left fuming on Saturday night after his All Blacks counterpart basically accused the Springboks of illegal play on their way to a 33-26 win at DHL Cape Town.
The Springboks dug deep to seal a nervy, but well-deserved victory in front of a buoyant Cape Town crowd, with Cheslin Kolbe producing a flawless seven from seven goal-kicking display on the night. But Erasmus’ celebratory mood quickly evaporated when he learned about the accusations level against his side.
For context, when asked about the scrum contest – which the Springboks have had the upper hand in across both Tests played to date – Rennie all about suggested South Africa’s dominance at the set piece were because they were wheeling the scrum, an act which is illegal.
“It is still a bit of an issue for us because they [Springboks] are able to walk around and go straight through our tightheads,” Rennie said.
“I think Angus [Gardner, referee] was pretty strong around setting a mark and then trying to keep the hookers in the same sort of spacing,” the All Blacks boss explained. “If the Springboks moved across further left, then he stopped them. We will ask a bit of feedback around that. And there’s a couple of little technical things that we will share again [with World Rugby’s match officials].
When about Rennie’s comments, a visibly annoyed Erasmus pushed back vehemently.
“Well we’ve been playing with a pack of these guys together, it’s the first time ever in history that people are talking about us walking around,” he said. “Why would we want to start a walk around in this [Test].”
“At the first six scums for New Zealand, every single one collapsed and it was reset, reset, reset, reset, so why is it only on their ball that the scum can’t collapse every single time? Erasmus questioned.
“I don’t come with that nonsense and saying we’re walking around and trying to put things out in the media. If I’m starting to put things out, well the last lineout was skew and we contested, I’m not going to moan my arse off about that, so if you just want to start moaning about stuff like that then you are under pressure,” Erasmus argued.
The Springbok mastermind then started listing multiple 50/50 incidents his camp was unhappy with during their defeat last weekend at Ellis Park, but didn’t take issue with.
“Last week we didn’t moan after,” he said. “There was clear head contacts a lot of times and today in the first forty there was four head contacts and nothing was done about it. Don’t try and convince the people [referees and public] through the media because that was what happened in the first week, they tried to convince the people in the media we’re slowing the game down and we were not.
“If the referees get caught up by that then there’s obviously a plan to get that message out and then we’re not going to stay quiet and just say ‘oh you’re right we’re walking around’.
“We’re not f*cking walking around, we’re just coming through [the middle], we’ve never ever been accused of walking around so I don’t understand it.
The two-time World Cup-winning coach then had a special request, directed at the media in attendance, regarding his heated reaction to Rennie’s comments.
“If you’re only going to clip the part I said now – at the end – it’s going to be a hell of a headline, but please don’t do it. Put the whole thing that I’m answering.”
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