Asked on SuperSport this week which pack anywhere can live with the Springboks scrum, three former Springboks named a Scotland coach, waved away England and France, and finished on two Wallabies who hardly ever start a Test together.
“England, there isn’t, John. There isn’t. We’ve just got a super scrum.”
The question came from Hanyani Shimange, nine caps as a Springboks hooker, and it was not rhetorical. Is there any scrum that can compete with this one? Alongside him sat Jean de Villiers, 109 caps and a former Springboks captain, and Schalk Burger, 86 caps at flanker and World Player of the Year in 2004.
The answer travelled through five countries in half a minute and settled on none of them.
Four days earlier an England tighthead with 118 caps had been asked the same thing and put his own country second in the world. Both cannot be right, and the gap between them is the most interesting thing said about the Springboks scrum all week.
The panel did get to a name. It took longer than anyone expected, and the pair they landed on are rarely picked together.
Scotland got named, and it was because of who coaches them
The list came out fast and unranked.
“I’ve seen Ireland come up with good tricks. Scotland are actually quite, they actually want to scrum, because Pieter de Villiers is there and he understands it. France, not really. We’ve scrummed them.”
Scotland is the surprise, and the reason given is not a player. Pieter de Villiers was born in Malmesbury, played 150 times for Stade Français, won five French titles between 1998 and 2007, took his caps in a France jersey, and now coaches the Scotland scrum. A South African who learned the trade in the Top 14 is why Scotland get a mention from three men who spent their careers inside the Springboks scrum.
Note what the compliment actually is. Not that Scotland win scrums. That they want them.
There is a real distinction under it. A pack coached to want scrum time sets up to hold a shove and take the reset. A pack coached to survive it sets up to get the ball away. Watch which hooker looks at the ball and which one looks at the referee, because the second one has already decided the contest is not worth having.
France got one clause and a full stop.
The Springboks scrum met Ireland’s tricks in Dublin and won ten from twelve
“Ireland come up with good tricks” is generous, and the panel knew it. The next thing said was “Ireland, we saw what happened in Dublin.”
South Africa won 24-13 at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday 22 November. RTÉ counted sixteen scrums on the South African feed, four reset after collapses, and ten infringements from the twelve played out. Nineteen of South Africa’s twenty-four points came from them, including a penalty try when Paddy McCarthy went under Wilco Louw.
Ireland finished with five cards and twelve men on the field. Andrew Porter took the blame publicly, which was decent of him and only half true, because his replacement went the same way. Afterwards a former Ireland flanker questioned the referee’s influence that night, the argument every beaten pack reaches for and the one the Springboks scrum has outlived.
Read also: if you want the mechanism rather than the scoreline, Kieran Read says the squeeze goes on the hooker rather than the prop, which explains why swapping a beaten loosehead so rarely fixes anything.
Behind “France, not really” sits Paris, where South Africa won 32-17 with fourteen men on Saturday 8 November after losing Lood de Jager to a red card.
An England prop had just put England second
Dan Cole, 118 England caps and a World Cup finalist, was asked for the world’s top three scrums on For The Love Of Rugby on Sunday.
“I would put England up there… When everyone’s fit, I’d say England. And then third, it’s probably the Kiwis, to be honest… the gap between one and two is much bigger than the gap between two and six or seven in world scrummaging… That’s how far the Boks are ahead of everyone.”
One former Test tighthead has England second and New Zealand third. Three former Springboks have England nowhere.
The disagreement is about availability. Cole’s answer carries a condition, “when everyone’s fit”, and England have not fielded that front row together in a long time. The panel were ranking the packs that exist this month.
They agree on the part that matters. Cole puts a bigger gap between first and second than between second and seventh, and the Springboks scrum sits on the far side of it. Jason Ryan called it the best in the world before this series began, and he coaches the All Blacks forwards.
The best answer was two Wallabies who hardly ever play together
The list finally produced a name, with an apology built into it.
“Angus Bell, Taniela Tupou could be interesting… They hardly ever play together, those two. But when they do, we all go, geez, they’re proper.”
That was the ceiling. Not a pack. A pair. Angus Bell has been at Ulster, Taniela Tupou at Racing 92, and both came home this year for the Nations Championship. Their availability has been the Wallabies scrum’s whole story.
Australia play South Africa on Sunday 27 September. If both start, that is the next real examination of the Springboks scrum, and it is three weeks away.
The condition nobody puts in the ranking
None of it counts unless the referee lets the contest happen, which is where the panel put their caveat.
“The contest has got to happen. So you’ve got to give credit to the officials to actually let the contest happen… we’ll get a referee where you will be asked to play it away most times, and then you won’t get reward for dominance… the Cape Town one. We didn’t really get reward for the amount of dominance we had.”
Two Tests, same pack, two outcomes. Cape Town produced dominance and almost nothing on the scoreboard. Soweto produced the penalty try that settled the argument on 36 minutes, Ox Nché through Tyrel Lomax from five metres, then two Fletcher Newell scrum penalties in the last quarter.
The Springboks scrum did not change between those two afternoons. The officiating did. Karl Dickson has the whistle at M&T Bank Stadium on Saturday, with Matthew Carley and Christophe Ridley on the touchlines and Andrew Jackson as TMO, an all-English team for a Test that decides a series.
Shimange, who packed down at hooker for a living, wanted one thing on the record about the Springboks scrum after a fortnight of accusations from the All Blacks camp.
“After us being criticised for walking around, scrum dominance… We needed to show something to say, listen guys, give us credit, respect our scrum. We don’t cheat. We don’t walk around.”
Kyle Sinckler has already said they are legal and win it before the ball goes in, a more damning finding for everyone else than an accusation would have been.
Read next: the other half of this argument belongs to the side losing it, and Kyle Sinckler’s answer for New Zealand is that no tighthead alive holds that scrum out, so they should stop playing not to lose.
Frequently asked
Which pack has the best scrum in world rugby?
South Africa, and nobody quoted this week argued otherwise. Dan Cole put England second and New Zealand third. The SuperSport panel named only Scotland and an Australian front-row pairing against the Springboks scrum, and left England out.
Why did the panel dismiss England?
No reason was given beyond the flat statement that there is nothing there. Cole’s counter-argument is availability: he rates England second when the whole front row is fit, which has been rare.
What happened when Ireland faced the Springboks scrum?
At the Aviva Stadium on Saturday 22 November, Ireland conceded ten infringements from twelve completed scrums on South Africa’s feed. Nineteen of the twenty-four points in a 24-13 defeat came from them, including a penalty try.
Who referees the fourth Test in Baltimore?
Karl Dickson of England, with Matthew Carley and Christophe Ridley as assistants and Andrew Jackson as TMO. All four are RFU officials.
Your turn
Scotland made the list because of a coach. Ireland made it on tricks that were taken apart in Dublin. Australia made it on two players who are rarely picked together. England are not on it at all, and an England prop with 118 caps says they should be second.
Name the pack. One team, anywhere, that you would back to hold the Springboks scrum square for eighty minutes. If the answer is England, the last three Novembers are waiting for you in the comments.
