The “hit” may be gone, but the Springbok scrum will still be full of grunt when South Africa face Argentina at the FNB Stadium next Saturday.
It will be the first time the Boks play under the new scrum engagement law that requires front row forwards to first bind before the actual scrumming commences.
The trial by the IRB, which has been adopted by Sanzar, has already been in use in the First Division of the Currie Cup while Europe will play according to the new laws when their new seasons get under way.
Referees will in future call “crouch, bind, set” and then only will the two packs be allowed to scrum against each other. The IRB hope to reduce the impact of the “hit” on the players’ welfare and also consolidate the first time scrum completion rate, thus speeding up the game.
Some, including Hurricanes scrum coach Don Cron, believes the Boks will now be at a disadvantge because they will now have to learn to scrum, rather than bank on their bulk to get momentum at the time of engagement.
“In my opinion, for the lesser scrums there’s no hiding now ... no tactics, no hit-and-run. You’ve got to man up and fight to the death now,” Cron told New Zealand’s Dominion Post. He added: “Pretty much any South African tighthead (prop) is going to have to sharpen up a bit.”
Bok hooker Adriaan Strauss agreed with Cron, but added there would still be plenty of grunt at scrum-time. “The traditional hit is gone and we’ll have to work a lot harder than before. With the hit you could get yourself into a good position, now we’re all working from the same base.
“You’re going to have to work hard throughout the game, but there will still be grunt. We’re just going to have to up our work-rate.”
Strauss said Bok scrum coach Pieter de Villiers had spent a lot of time with the forwards ensuring they’re ready for the new engagement law next weekend.
“The law’s changed for everyone, so I suppose it’ll come down to who adapts quickest. We’re ready for it, coach Pieter has been working towards this change for some time now so we know what to expect.”
Strauss, however, added it would still take a bit of time for everyone in the front row to fully get into synch. “We’re all going to have to wait and see where the trends go. We’ll pick up things in the game as we go along and adapt accordingly.”
All Blacks hooker Andrew Hore told The New Zealand Herald the new scrum laws were good for the game.
“The hit’s not as hard ... we are chipping away in there but I think the hooker is going to find it a little bit harder to hook the ball.
“We have the rules there where the scrumhalf has got to put it in down the middle and the referees are calling it in.”
He added: “The props are keen because there were no collapses (in the training session). There is nowhere to hide; you can't dive to the ground so you are locked in. Hopefully if we do things right and work off a short hit we should be pretty good.” - The Star
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