Dan Biggar: ‘I just can’t see how you can get a foothold against the Springboks’
Morne van den Berg feeding into Springboks scrum, and former Wales and Lions fly-half Dan Biggar.
Former British and Irish Lions star Dan Biggar believes that the Springboks will be almost impossible to stop if they maintain their scrum dominance heading in the 2027 Rugby World Cup.
South Africa dominated up front as they claimed a 3-1 series success over the All Blacks in Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry.
After defeat in Johannesburg, their power up front wore their arch-rivals down as Rassie Erasmus’ men secured victories in Cape Town, Soweto and Baltimore.
All Blacks’ template to upset the Boks
New Zealand, who consistently looked to move the ball wide, perhaps showed the way in Johannesburg where they secured a 33-16 triumph despite consistently going into reverse at the scrum.
However, even then, Dave Rennie’s outfit were thankful for a series of Bok errors which let them off the hook on several occasions.
On current form, and given that they have impressed since Rennie took over as head coach, the All Blacks could well be the Springboks’ biggest obstacle on their way to a historic three-peat, but they will need to improve their set-piece.
After lifting the Webb Ellis Cup in 2019 and 2023, South Africa are looking to do it for a third successive tournament in Australia in 2027, which would be the first time that has ever been achieved.
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They look well set to do just that if the fundamentals of their game remain as strong as they are, according to Wales legend Biggar.
“If you look at what this South Africa team’s achieved. World Cup in 2019, basically won it through scrummaging, Lions series in ’21, they turned the screw especially in that second Test. The ’23 World Cup, the scrum, semi-final in particular against England, won it for them,” he said on The Rugby Pod.
“The Greatest Rivalry Series, not much between the teams. If anything I thought New Zealand played the better rugby, scored more tries, more line breaks… but look at what they’ve (South Africa) achieved.
“A lot of their game is centred around the scrum. Even when Kolbe’s scoring brilliant tries or stepping, a lot of it is set up because they’ve got field position from winning scrum penalties or they’ve got a solid base to play off, or they’re under scrum advantage so they can chance their arm.
“Unless you find a scrum which can match them, I just can’t see how, if they keep everyone fit, you get a foothold in the game against them.”
Springboks ‘cohesion’
Erasmus knew that he would have to ease out a few players from the 2023 World Cup-winning side, but he seems to have maintained the balance of winning Tests and bringing in some young players.
Although an experienced core in the XV remains, with the likes of captain Siya Kolisi, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Eben Etzebeth and centres Damian de Allende and Jesse Kriel still crucial players in the side, the Boks boss has managed to build depth should those individuals wane over the next 12 months.
“How easy is it to build cohesion when you’re winning? They’ve been together for so long, they’ve got the best coaches in the world and we shouldn’t be apologetic of lauding this because they are so, so good,” Biggar added.
“The series was amazing for rugby.”
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