‘I’ve never had that happen before ‘ – Joe Schmidt hits back at Springboks scrum debacle claiming Australia were ‘certainly disadvantaged’
Joe Schmidt has hit back at the Springboks claims over the uncontested scrums in Perth.
Australia head coach Joe Schmidt has hit back at reports that the Springboks have lodged a complaint to World Rugby over the uncontested scrums in Perth.
It has been reported that SA Rugby have lodged a formal request to World Rugby to investigate Australia’s injuries that led to uncontested scrums in the Rugby Championship during the Round Two Rugby Championship clash between the Wallabies and Springboks.
Uncontested scrums
Following injuries to Angus Bell, James Slipper and Allan Alaalatoa, the match officials deemed it appropriate to order uncontested scrums to due player safety as the Wallabies were unable to field fully-trained front-rowers in the respective positions.
However, the Springboks are believed to be sceptical over the validity of the Wallabies players’ injuries and according to a report by South African newspaper Rapport, they formally requested for the events to be investigated and that Rugby Australia provide the players’ medical records.
Schmidt has since been asked for comment on the reports and he claims that to his knowledge, World Rugby have not made contact with Rugby Australia for an investigation.
There is a belief among Springboks fans and in fact, former captain Jean de Villiers that the timing of the injuries were suspicious as it took a clear strength away from South Africa who had the upper hand in the scrums in both Test matches. But Schmidt believes that losing those front-rower players also hamstrung his team with the Springboks benefitting with three maul tries.
“It was pretty evident against Los Pumas that the scrum was one our strong points in the game and it gave us a couple of access points that were sorely needed,” the Wallabies boss said after naming his team for the second Test against Argentina.
Detailing the injuries
He then went on to explain the details around the injuries that occurred in Perth particularly after he noted following the defeat to South Africa that Bell could have returned.
“Angus Bell came off both for blood and injury, so once you have substituted a player for injury, they cannot return to the field of play,” he explained.
“You can substitute them in and a front-row player can return to the field of play or any player can return for blood or a head injury and then we had two head injuries that were assessed by an independent medical doctor – who I’m sure wouldn’t appreciate anyone questioning their independence.
“For us, in the end, we conceded three maul tries and we didn’t have our big men to combat those mauls so it’s not like anything that we wanted to have happen, but player welfare is paramount and when players are injured, particularly those two head injuries we got in the second-half, it’s really important that the protocols for head injury assessments are followed.
“Both players [Slipper and Alaalatoa] failed their HIA 2 and their HIA 3 as well. As far as I know, there has been no formal inquiry made to World Rugby, certainly nothing that World Rugby have come back to us with and nothing that they have said that they felt was untoward.”
Earlier in the week, Wallabies prop Alaalatoa also provided a blunt response to the allegations while Schmidt added that they had not been requested to provide any medical details.
“World Rugby as far as we know, haven’t had a formal request to investigate anything that happened,” he added.
“So they haven’t certainly come to us and they haven’t questioned anything that happened because like us, they know the regulations and they’re driven to to make sure that player welfare is paramount.”
Schmidt: ‘In over 100 Test matches, I’ve never had that happen before”
The head coach was also responded to the comments made by ex-Boks skipper De Villiers and lock Lood de Jager with the latter believing that it was unlikely that they would feign the injuries but questioned the ‘ideal timing’ of the substitutions which occurred soon after the Springboks made front-row replacements.
“It’s someone’s prerogative if that’s what they believe we all question things from afar at times particularly when we’re not abreast of the valid information – the information is black and white,” Schmidt added.
“There was a clear injury in the first half to Angus Bell, he was removed at half-time and two head injuries in the second-half.
“Having coached in over 100 Test matches, I’ve never had that happen before it’s not like it happens very often, but we were certainly disadvantaged by it because we didn’t get the opportunity to have our big men combating the maul, and there were three maul tries in the second-half and in the end that caused the scoreboard separation that existed.”
Australia will now look to go back-to-back in the Rugby Championship after clinching a 19-20 victory over Argentina last weekend. The second match in Sante Fe will Slipper become the most capped Wallabies player of all-time as he surpasses fellow former captain George Gregan.
