All Blacks complain to World Rugby over Springboks scrum as Dave Rennie expects it to be ‘a lot better’
Springboks scrummaging and All Blacks head coach Dave Rennie.
All Blacks boss Dave Rennie expects his message to World Rugby about the Springboks scrum to do the trick as he admits they need to improve in certain areas this weekend.
New Zealand were dominated in the set-piece in the opening half with Ethan de Groot, Codie Taylor and Tyrel Lomax regularly being sent into reverse.
Although George Bower did a better job at loosehead when he came on for De Groot, it wasn’t until later in the match when the momentum truly switched at the scrum.
Springboks target
It is no doubt an area South Africa will target again, but the tourists were evidently frustrated about the way it was officiated at Ellis Park.
While the head coach did not divulge exactly what was said, he does think that their issues will be resolved.
Rennie was asked where the All Blacks had to get better and he responded: “In the contact area, especially early when they’re full of energy. We struggled to get go-forward, so we need to be a lot better around that area.
“Discipline-wise, we gave away way too many soft penalties, especially early in the game which is disappointing because it’s something we’ve spoken about – you give them easy entry into your 22 – so that needs to be better.
“Scrum-wise, obviously we’ve spoken with World Rugby around a couple of issues from our point of view and we think scrum-wise we will be a lot better. That was a massive in for them last week, so they’re elements that we need to better.
“I think our energy and our scramble [was excellent]. We held them up over the line a couple of times and obviously Malcolm lost the ball going over once, so they had plenty of time in our 22.
“There was plenty of energy and heart, and I think we need more of that.”
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Potential ‘Boklash’
While the All Blacks feel they can develop, the Springboks are looking for a vast improvement after making a number of errors in last weekend’s 33-16 defeat.
Rennie is certainly wary of the ‘Boklash’ but he is also confident that his team can “lift our level” in Cape Town on Saturday.
“We’re aware of the potential bounce back. Obviously, they’ll be really disappointed with last weekend and there’s been a lot of talk around how they bounced back last year,” he said.
“We’ve touched on it, we’re well aware the Springboks at their best are tough to beat anywhere, but we’ve talked a lot about us being better.
“We think we can be a lot better than we were last weekend and that’s the key. We’ve got to be able to lift our level, we know they’re going to be better, but we don’t want to focus totally on what South Africa are going to be bring, we want to focus on what we can bring.”
