Rennie to raise Springboks scrum concerns with World Rugby again

All Blacks coach Dave Rennie will once again contact World Rugby to raise concerns about the Springboks’ scrum tactics, despite praising referee Angus Gardner’s handling of the set piece during New Zealand’s 33-26 defeat in Cape Town.

South Africa’s victory at Cape Town Stadium levelled the Greatest Rivalry Series at 1-1, with two Tests still to play. But after the match, Rennie maintained that the Springboks had used illegal tactics at scrum time.

Rennie had raised similar concerns before Saturday’s second Test and said the issue remained unresolved after the match.

“I think Angus [Gardner] was pretty strong around setting a mark and trying to keep the hookers in the same sort of spacing,” Rennie told reporters.

“When the Springboks moved across further left, then he stopped them.

“We’ll get a bit of feedback around that; it’s still a bit of an issue for us.”

The New Zealand coach said he believed South Africa’s front row had been allowed to move laterally before driving into the All Blacks’ scrum.

“The Springboks were able to walk around and go straight through our tighthead [prop], so there are a couple of technical things that we’ll share again,” he said.

“But I thought in the end both teams were able to play off the scrums, so I feel Angus did a reasonable job there.”

South Africa prop Ox Nche said the controversy was largely a matter of how coaches, players and officials interpreted the laws.

He also felt scrums had disrupted the flow of the match, with Gardner choosing to reset them rather than penalise either team. One scrum was reset three times.

“It’s all about interpretation. As we all know, rugby has laws. Coaches, referees and players interpret it differently,” Nche said.

“The whole thing is if a forward pack is going forward all together, then they’re going forward.

“We wasted a lot of time in scrums today just because we all had different interpretations.

“But it’s his opinion, it’s the way he interprets it, and I have nothing to say on that.”

Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus was more direct when asked about Rennie’s claims after the match.

“We’re not fucking walking around,” Erasmus told reporters.

“We’re scrumming through. So, you know, we’ve never, ever, ever been accused of walking around. So I don’t understand it.”

The disagreement means the scrum is likely to remain a major talking point before the third Test at FNB Stadium on Saturday.

Rennie’s comments came after a match in which South Africa fought back to secure a seven-point win and draw level in the series. New Zealand’s coach now plans to seek further feedback from World Rugby about the areas he believes require clarification.

Whether the scrum remains the focus of his attention before the next meeting, or whether he identifies another aspect of the Springboks’ performance to question, will become clear in the build-up to the third Test.