John Smit’s ‘boggles my mind’ reaction to Greatest Rivalry scrum spat and his ‘gut instinct’ prediction about the ‘Test that decides the series’
The scrum had become a major Rugby's Greatest Rivalry talking point with John Smit, inset, the latest to weigh in with his thoughts
Rugby World Cup-winning skipper John Smit has given his verdict on the furious scrum spat that materialised following the Springboks’ victory last Saturday over the All Blacks in Cape Town.
South Africa won the second Test in Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry to level the series at one-all ahead of next Saturday’s third encounter in Soweto, but the fallout from the DHL Stadium match was caustic.
All Blacks boss Dave Rennie accused the Springboks of “walking around” at the scrum, a cheating allegation that South African head coach Rassie Erasmus didn’t take lightly.
After learning about Rennie’s allegation, Erasmus dropped several F-bombs in his withering X-rated reply at his post-match media briefing. The bust-up has dominated the narrative surrounding the series and Smit, the acclaimed ex-Springboks hooker who also played prop, has now weighed in on the rumbustious debate.
“Clever ploy…”
He claimed he was dumbstruck by the New Zealand allegation but suggested that what Rennie did at his media briefing was a “clever ploy” as it distracted the focus from the tactics they had used to depower the South African scrum.
“All of those comments and all of the questions, they’re all directed and what answer you give is directed at trying to get some form of message through to the officials and I find it amazing,” said Smit on I Love Rugby, the podcast he co-hosts with legendary Wallaby George Gregan.
“Obviously, you don’t often hear an F-bomb in a press conference, but that obviously got to Rassie and the reason why is because for the better part of four to five seasons, we have had a scrum that has provided massive problems to everyone else that we have played.
“Primarily, it’s been that combo of Ox (Nche) and (Gerhard) Steenekamp has come in there and amazingly the stats also don’t lie: they’ve got the two highest percentages of return penalties; Steenekamp’s actually got a higher percentage of getting a penalty from scrumming than Ox does.
“There are two very different types of looseheads. Gerhard’s a taller chap, and Ox obviously is as wide as he’s tall and he’s got unbelievable strength. He is, without doubt, the strongest scrummaging loosehead out there.
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“So the frustration and the reason why you get those F-bombs thrown in at a press conference by Rassie is that it was actually the one thing that I thought they [New Zealand] handled pretty well. Again, it boggles my mind.
“They did negate, well, no, not negate; we still had the upper hand, but they certainly improved on the result of the scrum (from the first Test in Johannesburg). I hadn’t seen a scrum being destroyed like that in a long time. Not one penalty for walking around, or swimming around is what they call it, and then angling in.
“But the (second Test) reality is they dropped six scrums, got away with it in terms of resets and so that sort of takes away; it sort of depowers the opposition scrum. So, it was almost, okay, we’ve come in here, we’ve had a pretty good result of squaring off with their scrum or not getting as much of a hiding in the scrum as we did the last week.
“But the last thing we want to do is highlight that we actually did certain things to negate that power by dropping it whenever there was pressure. We saw knees going down. The first one got penalised and then they sort of started dropping scrums quite regularly when the pressure came on.
“And no better way to do that than bring up the opposition in terms of what they’re doing. So, look, Thomas du Toit was very diplomatic in his explanation of it afterwards and they [South Africa] have had a pretty good rapport in terms of not being penalised for that specific thing.
“And walking around is a pretty easy one because you can actually see it. The loosehead will slide around and then angle in and grab you on the ribs here. It’s a beautiful, beautiful feeling for a tighthead and it’s a tactic and a legal one, but I haven’t seen that from our crew. We haven’t really needed to do that with anyone.
“Normally you find that tactic when you’re up against a really tough tighthead that you just can’t get through, so we haven’t really needed to do that and I haven’t seen it in South Africa.
“I certainly didn’t see it on Saturday, but it was just a ploy and a clever one from Rennie to be able to deflect some of the things that they did on the weekend to depower the Springboks scrum.”
Smit believes the scrum spat will only add to the anticipation of this weekend’s renewal in Soweto. While it is a four-match series with the finale pencilled in for the American city of Baltimore on September 12, he labelled the upcoming encounter as the three-Test series decider.
“It’s part of this whole game, the spiciness of this series, and there’s everything to play for on Saturday. This is a three-Test match series that the All Backs will want to win after 30 years, and South Africa will want to win this third Test to try and fix what happened 30 years ago in terms of losing that series in ’96.
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“That fourth game we all know is a money game. It’ll be great to see two teams playing in a different country, but this really is the Test. This is the Test that decides the series because whoever wins this wins the series in South Africa.”
Asked for a Greatest Rivalry prediction, Smit suggested there was no room for error from the Springboks and that a pretty special performance will see the reigning back-to-back World Cup champions triumph.
“Both coaches will be able to reflect on performances that make both teams believe they have a chance in the third Test,” he began, sizing up the FNB Stadium clash. “I genuinely believe that South Africa were about the poorest we have seen them for a long time in that first Test loss.
“This is going to irritate a lot of New Zealanders, but New Zealand have been so good, and they deserved that 15, 20-odd point win in Ellis Park, but we haven’t seen a Springbok team that scrappy and make that many mistakes for quite some time.
“So, for me, this (South Africa) team has been in this place before. British and Irish Lions, they lose the first one, come back, win the series, get better and better and better.
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“And it’s almost like once they have had a little bit of medicine and a little wake-up call and Rassie’s thrown the toys, the guys have bedded down and come through with an unbelievable victory against an All Black side.
“There’s no room for error here. This is the best team that’s out there to play at the moment for us, but they have had a sniff of blood and they’ve been able to follow through, improve and get the result.
“You’ll see a very bouncy, very energetic Springbok team wanting to be able to bed down a series win back home. So, my gut says we’re going to see something pretty special from South Africa and it’ll require a massive response from the All Blacks, which I know we’ll get, but it’ll just be about how much South Africa allow them to play their DNA.
“I’ve listened to about a thousand Q&As with ex-Springboks and ex-All Blacks and they talk about this DNA and in the space of one week they [New Zealand] have gone from number two to number one and everything’s all good and well and then they lose one game by seven points against South Africa and everyone’s on to them about not sticking to their DNA.
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“So the pressure is massive and it’s really about these two contrasting styles. The All Blacks, their skill set and (Cam) Roigard’s pass, there’s just so much about what they can do with ball in hand and getting it wide and exposing teams.
“It really will be about how South Africa can contain that and, if they contain that, you know their ability to go into a mode that puts them into that 22 and grinds away and eats away at their [All Blacks] energy and get the scoreboard ticking is pretty good.”
