Springboks greats question Wallabies ‘ideally timed’ injuries to ‘nullify’ a dominant strength of Rassie Erasmus’ team
Springboks greats have questioned the validity of Australia's front-row injuries in the Rugby Championship clash in Perth.
Springboks greats Jean de Villiers, Schalk Burger and Lood de Jager have questioned the validity of Australia’s front-row injuries in the Rugby Championship clash in Perth.
During the second Test between the two nations in the tournament, Australia saw both loosehead props – Angus Bell and James Slipper – leave the pitch with injuries and with no other options for the propping positions, the officials had no choice but to revert to uncontested scrums.
The Springboks dominated the set-piece during the opening Rugby Championship clash in Brisbane, leading many to question whether it was a deliberate ploy from the Wallabies to nullify a strength of Rassie Erasmus’ side.
After the match, Wallabies boss Joe Schmidt explained that Bell was replaced at half-time due to a cut above his eye while Slipper sustained a concussion leading to a HIA which he failed.
A ploy from the Wallabies?
Rugby World Cup-winning lock De Jager joined ex-Boks De Villiers and Burger on The Verdict Podcast to review the match which the Springboks won 30-12 and said that the injuries occurred at a rather convenient time for Australia.
The Springboks had just started to make changes in their front-row with Malcolm Marx and Ox Nche both entering proceedings and while De Jager was not willing to outright accuse the Wallabies, he added that it would be difficult to prove.
“It’s a difficult one with them going off for concussion,” he explained.
“There’s a certain protocol that it’s 12 days before you can play again if you go off the field with concussion and maybe that’s why they didn’t do it last week because they wouldn’t have guys available for the next game but now with the week break before the next Test maybe they thought now is the time to do it.
“I don’t know because it’s so difficult to prove that they actually did it but I did just think the timing was ideal if it was the case.”
De Villiers asked his former team-mate Burger if he was ‘clutching at straws’ in thinking that the Wallabies would feign injuries to avoid the scrums and the ex-loose forward was emphatic in his response.
“I believe that no team would do that,” he stated.
“So obviously HIA protocol will determine whether they’re available next week but if you fail your HIA the chance of you playing next week is almost out of the question.”
The question led the former World Rugby Player of the Year back to his point that replacement benches at the highest level should increase rather than decrease in order for the game to be safer.
Burger believes that the number of substitutions permitted shouldn’t change but coaches should have more players to choose from to avoid uncontested scrums.
“I think the squads will have to get bigger if this is the case because you feel short-changed as a spectator when the scrum is uncontested,” he explained.
“It just looks weird, particularly if someone watched the game for the first time and they were like ‘Why are there scrums and what is it all about?'”
“It was unfortunate from a spectacle point of view because I think we could have really put them under pressure.”
Boks shift focus
While the uncontested scrums did see the Springboks lose a point of dominance they had over the Wallabies in Test I, De Jager believes that not shoving in the set-piece allowed Erasmus’ charges to put an added emphasis on other areas of the game.
“Our scrum is so dominant because it’s an effort from all eight players, so when we got uncontested scrums, we were a lot fresher, especially our back-three,” the injured second-rower stated.
“Pieter-Steph made a steal in the second half at the breakdown, I haven’t seen him make a steal in a very long time.
“When that happened we targeted the breakdown more, we were fresher because they didn’t have to push in the scrum. That also means that you get out of the scrum and run quicker and it’s easier to get to the breakdown, so we started to put pressure on them there.”
Burger added: “It also nullifies all attacking platforms if the scrum is not a contest because all your loose forwards are off quicker, your eight can’t pick and go and get into the vacuum because that space is shut down and you get double-teamed. That’s why the scrum is such an important part of the game.”
Following the back-to-back wins in Australia, the Springboks now return to South Africa where they will face off against the All Blacks in Johannesburg and Cape Town.
