In an effort to de-escalate rising tensions in rugby’s bitter “walking around the corner” war, Springbok scrum guru Daan Human has defended his front row after controversial claims of illegal tactics in the opening two Tests against the All Blacks.
Human’s surprise appearance at a Bok media briefing came a day after head coach Rassie Erasmus lashed out at his All Black counterpart Dave Rennie over the platform he had chosen to criticise SA’s team’s scrum tactics ahead of Saturday’s third Test in Soweto (kickoff 5.10pm).
A fed-up Erasmus says Rennie bypassed official channels by airing his views on SA’s scrumming technique in a media briefing after the Cape Town Test last week.
In an effort to douse the growing flames of discontent between the rival camps, Erasmus sent assistant coach Human to address journalists about the dark arts of scrum warfare.
“It looks like every second guy is becoming a scrum coach now,” Human said.
“It’s always open to the public, and it’s a good thing that they have an opinion. But it’s important for us to focus on what we do and how we do it.”
“It is what it is, let them have their opinions.”
“If you say we’re walking around, then we’ve been walking around for the past six years, ever since I’ve been part of Springbok rugby.
“I’ve never coached that, because we want to go forward. Walking around is not an ideal for us. We don’t want to do it.”
“That’s when I took it to heart (when criticism became personal) to be honest, because that’s not what we do.
“We try to take it straight through the middle, according to the laws, and show the referee a dominant picture on both sides.
“It’s frustrating for all of us, but it’s part of the pressure I need to handle. I can’t transfer that pressure onto the players, that should never happen.”
Human said 39-year-old Deon Fourie, who has been named on the bench as a hooker for Saturday’s clash, could have a key role to play in Soweto.
“The thing about Deon is, although he hasn’t played a lot of Test matches in his life (14 games), he’s not 40 yet, he’s 39. I’m just saying, there’s still a long way to go” Human said.
“But anyway, I think in these Test matches we need to have a lot of experience, which he has.
“He played from a very young age at hooker and flank. So he’s able to handle these kinds of situations, like he did in the World Cup final for us.
“He’s on form, he’s a big, big competitor and he’s one of the strongest scrummagers in South Africa.
“That’s how highly I rate him. Otherwise I would never have put up my hand to say, ‘Listen, we should pick this guy’.”
Human says playing in Soweto will be a memorable occasion for the Boks.
“I think it will be wonderful for South Africa, for all the support that we have at the moment,” he said.
“Obviously, we don’t want to disappoint them because they’re really standing behind us, and we need to give it back to them.”
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