Bok forwards will be the key

2008-07-04 22:19

Wellington - The Springboks are confident that they will have enough forward grunt in the scrums to gain momentum in their Tri-Nations Test against the All Blacks on Saturday.

New Zealand go into the opening Tri-Nations game with a top-class, experienced front row of Greg Somerville,Tony Woodcock and Andrew Hore, while the Springboks will call on skipper John Smit, CJ van der Linde and Gurthro Steenkamp. Brian Mujati, who made his debut against Wales last month, is on hand on the bench.

The Springboks' scrummaging was probably the weakest aspect of their game in the wins over Wales and Italy, however, and the All Blacks are widely expected to target this facet of play on Saturday.

Team as a whole played well

The Bok forwards coach, Gary Gold, said on Friday: "The standard of the scrummaging fluctuated in the incoming Tests, but we didn't have the same pack every week.

"The first week, against Wales, the scrum was poor even though the team as a whole played very well. It improved for the second Test and then we had parity against Italy, who are underestimated in that phase of play. A guy like Carlos Nieto has vast experience in France. John Smit told us he is one of the best tightheads over there," Gold said.

Sharks tighthead BJ Botha played in the second Test against Wales at Loftus when, by Gold's own admission, the Springboks' scrummaging was at its best.

Botha was also the best South African scrummager during the Super 14 and it is inexplicable that Peter de Villiers and his fellow selectors have elected to leave such a potential trump card at home.

Gold is certain, however, that the quartet chosen to do duty on Saturday can hold their own in the set-piece.

"We're quite confident about our scrum and we've been pretty focused on it this last week. We've got nearly 400 caps in our pack and we also have a long history of scrummaging.

"But so do New Zealand and it will be an interesting challenge for us. We're under no illusions how good they'll be in that department.

Quickly borne fruit

"As always, it will be important how that area of the game is officiated. It's interesting that the All Blacks were penalised quite heavily there in their last two Tests," Gold said.

The former London Irish coach said New Zealand's decision to adopt uniform scrumming tactics through their Super 14 franchises had quickly borne fruit.

"It was quite remarkable the difference you saw in the Super 14 and that's because they brought in centralised coaching and all the teams bought into it. There are no real weaknesses in the All Black scrum," said Gold.

- SuperSport