World Cup winner details All Blacks scrum woes as star was ‘underdone’ against ‘powerful’ Springbok
All Blacks and Springboks scrum with an inset of tighthead prop Tyrel Lomax.
Charlie Faumuina believes that the Springboks’ scrum dominance was partly down to All Blacks prop Tyrel Lomax being rushed back into the set-up.
Lomax is renowned as one of the best scrummaging tighthead props in the world, but he was battered by South Africa in both of the Rugby Championship Tests in New Zealand.
The 29-year-old returned to action against the Springboks. He featured off the bench in the first Test and started the second, after recovering from a hand injury that saw him miss the fixtures against Argentina.
Lomax rushed back
In the All Blacks‘ heaviest-ever defeat, Scott Robertson’s side were put under the pump at scrum time, conceding three penalties, and Faumuina says that Lomax’s lack of match fitness played a crucial role in South Africa bossing the set-piece.
“Lomax came back just last week; maybe he didn’t have enough time in the seat to be able to go against a big pack like South Africa,” he told the Aotearoa Rugby Podcast.
“He is a strong man, he is solid, but he just came into the starting team, and he was a bit underdone.”
Still, the former tighthead also praised the job that Bok loosehead Ox Nche did in the match and said he is a powerful scrummager.
“If I were in a situation like that, I’d probably be trying to isolate Ox a little bit more, trying to take him outside and keep him on my outside and then have enough time for that ball to get to the back,” he said.
“Going more to my right side, trying to straighten him up a little bit more because I think when he comes in with that little angle that he gets, he’s just too powerful to give him that type of advantage, it’s just too hard to hold him down. Just try to take any advantage away from him; in that pack, he is really crucial.”
Fellow former front-row forward James Parsons also pointed to the lack of unison in the All Blacks’ pack, saying: “How important is the back five? A couple of times, we saw feet scraping rather than a settled platform that we got in the last 15 minutes.”
Faumuina replied: “Obviously, the back-five is your engine, and a lot of our power comes from them, and that connection piece in regards to the front-row back-five, that’s really important.
“You’ve got to give credit to South Africa, they had a lot of power coming through and putting that connection under pressure, but it’s probably another work-on for the next weekend.”
Weight advantage
South Africa had a 20-kilogram weight advantage with the starting forward packs, and Parsons believes that had an influence, too.
Robertson has selected lock Tupou Vaa’i on the side of the scrum in several Test matches this year, and the former hooker wondered whether a more scrum-first focus would have been a better fit against the Springboks.
Faumuina agreed that was part of the problem for New Zealand and detailed how teams like the Springboks and France aren’t too fazed about front-row players hitting certain fitness goals before being selected and worry more about their scrummaging capabilities.
“With me playing in France for the last seven years of my career, there are a lot of big men over there, and I think how we play in New Zealand, there are certain boxes that we have to fulfil to play in New Zealand with the fitness, speed, strength, but those South African boys, they wouldn’t hit a five-minute Bronco,” he said.
“But their first job is to scrum and win the set piece, give the referee good pictures that, when it comes to 50/50s, he’s going to reward the dominant scrum.
“At the moment, South Africa have got a lot of good pieces in their game that they can afford to have with a lot of these big boys rolling around, but it just makes it harder for us when it comes to scrum time.”
He added that to beat the All Blacks, you need to go through the forward pack and that is exactly what South Africa did.
“I always thought when I was playing for the All Blacks, for any team to beat us, they needed to come through the forward pack,” he said.
“I feel for those boys and All Blacks, but that’s the only way you really get on top of the ABs is when you come for a forward pack, and South Africa did that on the weekend.
“As a forward pack, we’ve got to be a lot more physical to be able to contain these guys when they get those easy runs in, it’s just you’re just going to ride them all the way back to your tryline.
“We have to meet them physically first, and then it’s going to lead to better results.”
WATCH: Siya Kolisi brilliantly remains respectful in brutal ‘get off’ sledge at All Blacks staff
Small tweaks
Still, Faumuina expects some tough conversations in the All Blacks camp as they build towards the Bledisloe Cup Tests against the Wallabies.
“There will be some tough conversations and just little detail stuff like sometimes a lock feels like he’s pushing hard but his body position is out of whack compared to his prop and that can really affect a scrum,” he added.
“So a lot of little things like that really makes the difference.
“A scrum is obviously an eight-man effort, but there are a lot of little connections inside that eight that makes a massive difference.
“Those are the conversations that they have to have to fix this, and I’m sure they will. They’re going to get a reaction come next week against Australia, when a lot of these things will be fixed.”
READ MORE: Springboks star returns to action amid doping ban charge after failed drug test
