His job was to outmuscle the boks, and he did that quite well.

Not since those days have the boks been known for scrum dominance, so I dont actually know where that comes from, i know until recently the boks frequently put out the largest packs in excess of 900kg,

but that image has since changed and the boks are obviously trying to adapt to an increased speed in the game.

The springboks forwards coach needs to catch a wakeup, the boks are being out thought at scrum time, are they perhaps putting too much emphasis on the lineout and the breakdown.

I think bar the scrum, the bok forwards are the best around.

But you are right, the tahs did have a good pack, although i think the saffers still have the best loosies around maybe its also fair to say that the aussies now have the better props.

You have said that the Wallaby scrum is technically superior to its opponents. Namely the Boks. If so how do they cheat. The weight difference between both packs isn’t that great.So technique and nous comes into play. From your assumptions of our technical superiority you could come to the conclusion that the Wallabies are the better scrummagers.That would be the reason why one side is left standing. When you consider that the Wallaby Props are both from arguably the strongest scrummaging side in the S14 this year.

Case in point. When the Tahs meet the Sharks it was considered the clash of the packs. Who will emerge on top. And the winner was. NSW.

I also did say in previous posts that Aus are technically good and smart.

So no i dont feel the biggest guy must win the scrum. But i do think something is up when the one side of the scrum is left standing still.

Lets reserve all great talk for after the 3N. 3 home wins does not warrant that conversation

The fact of the matter is that South Africa does not have a powerful or technically good scrum, and that is why it has been pushed about by the Lions, NZ and Australia, and was pushed about during the Autumn tests by Wales, Scotland and England.

Perhaps you should investigate Jake White’s 2006 “men against boys” quote, Ivan. That might set you straight.

Anyway, you have not the faintest idea what you are talking about when it comes to scrummaging, that much is obvious. Believe it or not Ivan, most of scrummaging is skill and co-ordination so that 8 men work as a team.

You think that the only thing you need to do to win scrums is put your heaviest men in them – please, be my guest! Keep following that tactic…

Hence, its in the genes. Power… you talk as if i said Godly status.

And you are obviously watching your footage with beer goggles on, else you need to please educate me as to how Smit and Bakkies can be left standing stationery at a scrum, while the Aussie loosehead and his lock and flank have all moved inside and past them.

Or why Baxter would angle his leg outwards to scrum forwards?

Its technique, illegal technique but smart.

The only reason that Aus would have outmuscled all those teams at the scrum was due to their technical nous, illegal or not… but not hteir muscle.

But then comes the rest of the forward game… Where are Aus then ? Are they flexing their biceps at ruck time? Are they driving every team in history backwards in the tackle?

No, they are blatantly trying to cheat there too, by going to ground and crawling over the tackled man and ball trying to prevent the opposition from getting to the ball. A delay in 1 second is enough to win the penalty for holding.

Its all very smart, and i must say that they are the smartest team around.. but physically… Sorry, the weakest of the 3N teams.

And NZ are far stronger scrummagers than SA and Aus… If they were pushed back by Aus.. you would have to ask why?

All utter rubbish. I had a look at the footage – you have the nerve to complain that the Australian were angling in on Smit. The only player in the scrums in that match who did any angling was Smit when he milked the penalty from Rolland. He bored in on our hooker but got the penalty by complaining to the ref before and after. And that is what South Africa’s superiority is – nothing more than the ability to whinge the loudest when they don’t get what they want.

South Africa’s scrummaging is pretty mediocre at the moment, not just compared to the Australians, but everyone else they play.

And then, when they don’t get their own way, they sob and cry like little girls. I’ll find you a handkerchief…

Australia have a good technique,

well in my opinion then, SA are bigger and stronger and faster than Aus.

Aus are technically smarter.

I have also seen little evidence that the South African pack is superior to other European sides.

In a fair push, SA would run Aus backwards.

SA have physically superior athletes when compared to Australia… end of story.

Not much of a numbers fan, Ivan?!

I have rarely seen a Wallaby team concede so many penalties and yellow cards in a single game. In my memory the Boks were the ones that offended more at the ruck and scrumtime. What has changed that a NH referee in all 3 tests decided that the Boks are the most disciplined when their history is against them?

The Wallabies committed cynical fouls amongst their 19 penalties, 3 yellow cards and conceded 9 lineouts. That is an indication of the pressure they were under. To blame the Boks’s backline play or lack thereof is only masking the defficiencies in the Wallabies gameplan.

In the last world cup there were three teams, SA, ENG and ARG using the high ball technique and more teams are likely going to start to employ this tactic, in fact the Wallabies put up a few last weekend and I only hope as more teams jump on the sky rocket bandwagon the IRB will see some light and change the rules for the better.

Wow, I don’t think you should be so introverted, tell me how you really feel!

Sorry, I am not having a go at you, thank you for your honest comments. I won’t see the vid of the game again for a while, but I will bear in mind your comments about the scrum, particularly re going inside Smit.

It probably won’t surprise you if I say that many Australians have a similar opinion of South Africans as you do of us, and I will just leave it at that.

Re Giteau, I share your views – at present I think loss of Barnes to a citing would do Australia far more damage than loss of Giteau.

So no bearing on anything you said.

My post is anger, but not drivel. The Aussies are scrum cheats, plain and simple. Smit was constantly left standing at his original scrum position while the aussie scrum went inside and past him. How does that happen in your opinion? does Smit disengage from the Scrum and move outwards, keeping in mind that he is the TH.

Otherwise, you are right… The scrum did not affect the outcome, but the one thing we can all agree on, is that the scrum is unmanageable. We saw SA coax the Lions scrum, then we saw the Lions do the same to the boks. Aus are doing the exact same, its not power that is causing their scrum to move forward, is that they are taking a prop and lock out of the push.

The aussies played some smart footie when Giteau was off, I suspect that Barnes will be moved to 10 and Giteau to 12.

also, I am angered by the fact that Giteau gets off with nothing, but Botha gets 2 weeks for a mild ruck clean?

do you feel that this is fair? Or is it something we dont talk about in Aus ?

Aus are calling for consistency from the ref, SA are calling from consistency from the sightings commisioners.

the fact is that should giteau have been banned, Aus would lose all their home games, in my opinion at least.

This would mean a serious ? into the credability of the 3N, hence no sighting.

I can promise you though, had Botha or Burger done that to Giteau… 8 weeks minumum.

Fair ? Consistent ?

That is why I will enjoy seeing NZ crush Aus, NZ are humble in defeat, and gracious in victory… even more so than our boks.

its an admirable quality that wins my respect regardless of their current form.

Not sure why you wrote that long diatribe in reply to me, since I wasn’t blaming the ref! I did criticize a couple of minor points about Roland’s reffing, but made it quite clear that he is a world apart from Joubert’s incompetence in Auckland.

I have made it clear that in my view the Boks well deserved their win, and much of Australia’s pain was self-inflicted.

That said, your post is drivel. There was no illegal scrummaging by Australia, and indeed our scrum rightly had the advantage over the Bokke for most of the match. However, scrummaging rarely decides a match, and in this case the numerous unforced errors by Australia undid whatever benefit they gained from the scrums. Indeed, near the end the Bokke decided to take a line-out instead of a scrum – that was a no-brainer.

This was one match where the Boks used their brains all the way through, and Australia by and large did not.

Everytime the boks launched a bomb, suddenly peak hour traffic formed in front of the chaser, this was only penalized once but was a blatant tactic to difuse the boks aerial attacks. I was hoping that the boks chasers would push an elbow into a speedbumps ribs, that would have put an end to that cheating tactic.

when Giteau was carded, i immediately took a bet (that I won) that he would not even be cited, nevermind suspended. It was in anyones book a far more dangerous infringement than Bakkies 2 week suspension debacle. So keep whining about refs, Australia has for so long enjoyed the refs one eyedness. And in this case, the only valid point I can see in that match that an upset aussie fan can make,, is Bismarck’s challenge on a penalty. Otherwise, Brussouw was 100% clinical at breakdown, Something that Brown and Smith tried to match but failed dismally at. But if McCaw couldnt, what would you expect.

So take away the illegal scumming, and the aussie really had nothing to offer in this game bar some good kicking from in my opinion the best aussie back Barnes, and some entertaining play from the young o’Connor.

You can blame refs all you want, the fact is that George Smith was fuming inside because he was shown up by Brussouw after he told all the newspapers that he was going to teach Brussouw a lesson.. I am sure he was crying inside hence his totally disrespectful manner of talking to the ref, which is very unsporting.

The Blacks are going to destroy Aus in the BC games and I will enjoy seeing that since the Aussies cheat and whine so much, Cant wait to hear the compaints of the Saffa ref then… Boks will win 1 in Aus and take 1 bonus point from their remaining 2 which will be enough to take the title.

no i dont hate aussies, I just dislike the fact that a win is never congratulated and always blamed on refs and illegal tact. But like saffa supporters i suppose thats only a few idiots.

The Wallabies made an incredible number of mistakes, it is that simple. I can’t really fault any of the yellow cards that were handed out. And the line-outs? Arguably the Bokke and the Wallabies have been 1 and 2 in the world in lining out for the last few years – on the basis of this game, we need to take lessons from Taipei.

I think the bright points for the Wallabies were:

1. The scrum. We held our own and more often than not we dominated them. This is consistent with our superior performance against Italy and France, both strong scrummagers. Auckland is shown up for what it was – due only to Joubert’s incompetent reffing and Woodcock’s blatant milking.

2. Barnes’ leadership – he took control when we were two men down and inspired everyone to keep the Boks out for a very hard 10 mins.

3. We scored two tries to one.

But we’d better stop smoking strange substances before the next test…