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Dave Rennie reveals All Blacks plan to limit Springboks’ scrum dominance as World Rugby disagreement continues after assistant’s ‘gravy train’ claim Dave Rennie says that the All Blacks and World Rugby are not seeing eye to eye on issues around scrums after he claimed that the Springboks were ‘walking around’ in the set-piece. The head coach made that claim after the first Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry Series Test match at Ellis Park and doubled down in defeat in Cape Town a week later, with the latter remark leading to an outburst from opposition head coach Rassie Erasmus. Rennie was not willing to discuss the scrums in the build-up to the third meeting between the two teams this year but has revisited the topic ahead of the fourth. South Africa had the upper hand in the scrums and lineouts in Soweto as they surged into a 2-1 series lead, and Rennie’s assistant Neil Barnes was convinced that the men in black weren’t given a fair rub of the green from the officials in the third game. Neil Barnes’ gravy train claim on Springboks’ scrum Speaking to DSPN Rugby after the game, he was asked where the Springboks were better and provided a rather sour reply. “You can’t hide from it. Their set piece is pretty damn dominant, and they get a gravy train of penalties from it. I’m not going to say they’re all legit, but at the end of the day, we’re going to change the perception for the officials as well, so we get a fair rub in the green, but we are going to be solution-based here,” Barnes said. “They’re good at what they do, and we’re going to counter it. The rest of our game, the scoreboard, it’s tight, so not a lot in it. We’re not going to beat ourselves up too much, but at the moment it stinks. We come in second, and this crew has tried bloody hard to get the right result for our country, and it hurts.” With the team now in the USA, the question around the scrum was raised again, particularly in terms of their disagreement with World Rugby on how it is being officiated, and Rennie was willing to address it despite stating that he didn’t want it to be a ‘big topic’ again. “We could talk about scrums, but clearly our view and the view of World Rugby and the officials is different, and so you just have to deal with it,” he said. “They don’t see it the way we do, and it’s their [opinion] that matters on game day. So, we’ll have to be better. I think on our ball, the scrum were reasonably solid. We got it badly wrong on one and got punished with one of their feeds. Look, it’s a weapon for them, and that’s the challenge.” All Blacks need to be more accurate Rennie added that the All Blacks need to be more accurate in order to limit the impact of the Springboks’ set-pieces with knock-ons and errors allowing South Africa to flex their strength in that area of the game. “We want high continuity; if you make an error, they get to go to a set-piece. They get a penalty off that; they march up the field. It’s still an area we’re going to have to be better,” he continued. “Lineout-wise, we’re just trying to play tempo, and ideally we’d like to play it off the middle or off the back, but thinking is we’ll take it where we can, and the way South Africa were defending the middle and back, and not necessarily mirroring in defence but just going off our thrower – it’s free ball at the front. “So we’re prepared to take it just to get the ball on our hands and get a bit of continuity.” He echoed those sentiments when asked how New Zealand are going to turn the tide in the scrums and lineouts. “They’ve got a great scrum and maul, so our ability to stay in front of that maul is important. When we did that, we limited their ability to hurt us and likewise at scrum time,” the head coach said. “So, the easiest way to limit those occurrences is if we are more accurate; then there are fewer scrums and greater continuity for us. We don’t kick the ball out; there are fewer lineouts for them, and then discipline comes into it. So, you can’t make their strengths disappear, but our job is to limit the number of opportunities they get.” Dave Rennie takes issue with referees’ focus Rennie was asked whether he could elaborate on the difference of opinion with World Rugby around scrums. However, he did air his annoyance that referees are hot on the hooker’s brake foot – a safety law introduced to limit the loading on the front rowers’ necks. He feels that officials are focusing too much on that and aren’t looking at the scrum holistically. “Not really,” he responded. “I just don’t want it to be the big topic. We have got to be better; we’ve got to be more accurate to limit the number of scrums they have. We’ve said a few things; we’ve spoken to World Rugby about it. Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for world-class coverage you can trust. “They agree in some parts, but not necessarily on everything, and to be honest, the sole focus at the moment seems to be on the brake foot. I reckon if referees are looking for brake foot, they don’t see all the other things that you’re supposed to be looking at. So, I don’t think we’re helping our referees by making their job any easier – that’s a different topic. I don’t really want to talk about scrum because yeah, in the end that wasn’t the deciding factor in the game. South Africa are very good at creating opportunities and taking their chances, and so that maul, which they scored under the posts, was a big moment in the game. “We know if we can do a couple of things a bit better, limit their opportunities and be a little bit more clinical, the result could go another way. It’s in our hands, but they’re a very good side, and they scramble really well. I think the better side probably won in the end.”