By his own assessment, Petrus du Plessis is just the man to transform the Wallabies scrum into a “weapon”.
The South African-born, self-styled British rugby graduate is promising to bring a mix of science, experience and old-fashioned grit to his new role as Wallabies assistant coach.
Lured to Australia by Dave Rennie after playing under the first-year Wallabies coach at Glasgow Warriors, du Plessis is a qualified physiotherapist who also won two European championships and three English premierships during an eight-year stint at Saracens.
“When I first went to Glasgow Warriors, no disrespect to anyone in particular, the scrum wasn’t a massive set-piece feature for the team and probably wasn’t very highly ranked in Europe,” du Plessis said on Wednesday.
“And I came in and made a huge difference.
“I think we ended in the top five in Europe last year scrum-wise and we developed young players.
“My physio background plays a massive role. Physiotherapy is basically movement analysis. I’m an expert in leg strengthening. That helps massively in the scrum, core strengthening etc.
“So if you put all that together with the fact that I only recently played – I know the rules inside out, I’ve stuck my head in those dark places – that’s where the conversation led with Dave.
“He liked that and the way I present and get the message across so we had an honest discussion and I told him, ‘if the opportunity occurred I would follow you to Australia’ and that’s what happened.”
After spending several months mentoring Australia’s forwards via Zoom, du Plessis – also a part-time actor who has featured in London Fields and Gatwick Gangsters – finally completed his two weeks in quarantine last Saturday.
He then made the mad dash to Olympic Park to see the Wallabies crushed 43-5 to relinquish the Bledisloe Cup to New Zealand for an 18th straight year.
But he remains upbeat, believing Queensland Reds star Taniela Tupou can be the cornerstone of the Wallabies front row for years to come.
“He’s a phenomenal athlete, probably one of the strongest props I’ve ever come across,” du Plessis said.
“The Wallabies scrum has always been there or thereabouts. They didn’t have a bad World Cup campaign but some people might say the scrum is just a restart of a set piece.
“The thing we want to change is we want to make the scrum a weapon, so that we can decide whether we want to attack or not and manipulate the opposition so that we can attack much better, and that’s the main thing.
“The talent we have at the minute is good enough to possibly have one of the best scrums in the world.
“It’s making good strides.”
Bobby
Roar Rookie
Yeah Jacko. Hopefully a close game. Have tempered my optimism. Wallabies by 8+. Get on 'em Jacko!!
Hey Bobby...Im going for anything from +5 to +30......Its a fast young ABs side but lets see if it cliks...Good luck tomorrow!!!
CPM
Roar Rookie
He sounds like the Orange Man of rugby. MARGA!
Hunters
Roar Rookie
This guy might be ok if he can gain some confidence.
Bodger
Roar Rookie
Simmons and Swinton in this week, I assume the scrum may be a little better. Oh we dream of having a dominant scrum in Oz.
John
Hate that calling outby the ref. Where in the rule book does it say a team must use it?
Magic65
Roar Rookie
He's not short on confidence, is he? "I’ve stuck my head in those dark places" - I think it's still there to be honest. He'd give Louis Armstrong a run for his money.
No Arms
Roar Rookie
Simple things done well please. Enough with the silver bullets
mzilikazi
Roar Pro
“And I came in and made a huge difference." Careful man, sounding Trumpian...."Im the best scrum coach in the world, best in the history of the world, any history even." I can't see a big difference yet. Scrums are often too untidy for me, and players, especially TT, showing a lack of concentration. Need to concentrate on a steady, locked out scrum on own ball. Don't have to go forward. And keep locked out for the late shove too....AB's did well on one at least in that area last Sat. But am prepared to give this man time. We are only three games into his career with the WB's.
haha i do enjoy keeping the flames alight.....Ill tip when Ive seen the sides as i think NZ may make a few changes....So far I have been out by a total of 36 points but selected the winner so of course I will be tipping NZ to win.....But by how far? i see Swinton looks to be in the Wallabies side.......be good to see his agression.....
Bobby
Roar Rookie
Jacko, old mate, you've had a tough time on rhat other thread this morning. Keep throwing:). What score this week ? Suppose you haven't changed to the good side yet and remain blinded by darkness ?
“And I came in and made a huge difference. yeah i thought the same.....FIGJAM......
Bobby
Roar Rookie
Never seen a bloke ( who I think hasn't played international Test Rugby) pump his own tyres up so much. Anyway, he's got some good lads in there.
Riccardo
Roar Rookie
What about a skills coach? This has been a thorn in recent Wallabies sides at the risk of appearing overly-critical. Set-piece, especially the line-out, is obvioulsy important, but passing catching and kicking are too. Too often we see poor clearances and aimless tactical kicking, gifting possession in some cases. Too often, passes go awry, especially on the end of movements, costing points. Did Cheika fire Mick Byrnes?
K.F.T.D.
Roar Rookie
This sounds like good news, however a lot of scrum dominance seems to be governed by the ref. I watched the Uni v Easts GF, where the dominant Easts scrum led the way to their victory on the back of many resets and many penalty advantages and eventually a yellow card and also a penalty try. However in the first test when Australia had a dominant scrum and looking for the penalty advantages the ref says “use it”. Why should they have to? for TV? His interpretation or bias?