Ex-All Blacks hooker baffled by Rassie Erasmus’ scrum outburst while prop understands Springboks’ ‘frustrations’
Springboks v All Blacks scrum and Rassie Erasmus.
Former All Blacks hooker James Parsons is perplexed as to why Rassie Erasmus lashed out after Dave Rennie’s complaints around the Springboks’ scrum.
After South Africa’s 33-26 Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry Test victory in Cape Town on Saturday, Rennie was asked about the scrums after New Zealand raised issues around the set-piece before the meeting in the Mother City.
The All Blacks head coach said that the Springboks‘ loosehead props were walking around in the scrum, which led to their dominance in the first Test, and after the defeat in Cape Town, he doubled down on that take and said he would raise it with World Rugby.
Afterwards, Erasmus was asked to provide a comment on his counterpart’s remarks and was clearly not pleased, slamming the accusations as ‘nonsense’. He also took exception to the comments as he believed that it was Rennie’s ploy to influence the match officials through the media.
Why there were so many scrum resets in Cape Town
The scrum has been a major talking point since even before the All Blacks touched down in South Africa, and the second Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry match was no different, with pundits bemoaning referee Angus Gardner’s reluctance to penalise either team and often reverting to simply calling ‘play-on’ or ordering a reset.
Appearing on Sky Sport NZ’s Breakdown, former Blues and All Blacks hooker Parsons understands why there were so many resets in the game, stating that neither team was going to change their tactics in the set-piece because they weren’t being punished for anything.
“As a front rower, I probably wouldn’t have admitted this when I was playing, but I can happily say it now: when they call you out unless you get penalised or concede a free-kick, you’re not adjusting because those are your tactics,” he explained.
“You’re trying to manipulate the front row and get the scrum on your terms. So, having it four times, he needed to ping someone; otherwise, it just slows the game down, and you could see the frustration in the end.
“Codie [Taylor] just got on with it and sort of stopped asking for them to move, but I can see how it’s frustrating for them in that area.”
All Blacks didn’t get the rub of the green
Gardner’s performance has been in the spotlight since the final whistle, with fans and pundits from both South Africa and New Zealand having grievances. Parsons believes that the All Blacks did get the rub of the green in the first match from the officials but argued that they didn’t this time around. However, he doesn’t believe that was the reason why the All Blacks lost in Cape Town.
“I said it last week: we got the rub of the green with Matthew Carley, and we can’t go ‘that was a great win’ and not acknowledge what went our way,” he continued.
“We didn’t get the rub of the green this week, and I don’t think we can say that decided this Test match.”
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Parsons was joined on the show by fellow former All Blacks’ front rower Angus Taʻavao who understood why South Africans were frustrated by the officiating decisions and Erasmus’ outrage around the scrums.
“The scrum has been a big thing that we’ve talked about during this tour, and South Africa have been the best in the world. They’ve shown that against multiple sides. So when a ref comes into the changeroom and says I want both sides to be up straight, a team will review that and send clips through,” the prop said.
“So that’s obviously what the All Blacks have done, but I do feel the frustration from South Africans because they are the best scrum in the world. Scrums are collapsing, and you’re expecting results, but you’re getting told that you’re walking around.”
Parsons questions why Rassie Erasmus is so upset
Parsons wasn’t in agreement as he was baffled by Erasmus’ outrage as South Africa have conceded just one penalty at scrum time for walking around.
“How many times have they been pinged, though? They’ve literally been pinged once for walking around. I don’t know why he’s taken such exception to it because they haven’t been penalised for it,” he said.
“He’s so used to being on the other side of dictating terms. That’s what surprises me because there’s one penalty for walking around.”
Taʻavao replied: “I suppose off the back of that, they didn’t get rewarded, which is what they’ve done in every Test match. I think they had one penalty on their ball.
“So, that’s the frustrating part. They disrupted a whole bunch of our ball last week. So, I think when they get told these pictures, and they were talking a whole lot about breakfoot and not moving that – they come away from this game thinking, ‘How did we not get more results?'”
