The feared Springbok scrum did not have the best day in the office against Scotland, but coach Daan Human was delighted with the Bomb Squad’s impact to turn the tide.
The Springboks were just three points ahead at half-time in their opening World Cup fixture, after a tightly contested first half saw Scotland give as good as they got.
In fact, Scotland were able to win back-to-back scrum penalties, which allowed flyhalf Finn Russell to score their only points of the game just before the break.
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This led to a stern team talk in the Bok changeroom during the half-time interval, which produced almost immediate results as the defending champions came out firing on all cylinders.
“Just after half-time, the momentum swung towards us,” Human said. “We never want to give away a penalty [at any scrum] and that half-time talk in the dressing room was very important.
“I can’t repeat what I said in there [dressing room].
“We all know what we are capable of doing, but we must work at it. We should not think it will just happen by itself.
“The moment we start thinking like that, it will be time for me to move on.”
The Springboks were inspired in the second half, with Steven Kitshoff and Frans Malherbe quickly redeeming themselves, before Ox Nche and Trevor Nyakane turned the momentum into complete domination.
When the @Springboks ‘Bomb Squad’ did their thing at scrum time on Sunday
Game-changing impact off the bench in a hard-fought match#RWC2023 | #RSAvSCO pic.twitter.com/ckkUofcUmE
— Rugby World Cup (@rugbyworldcup) September 13, 2023
“Obviously, I’m smiling because that’s one of the best front rows going around in the world,” Human said.
“I’ll share those reasons at a later stage, but it’s awesome to be able to put them on. We may have had a little luck in the second, but we were happy with the result and the way we scrummed.
“There’s still a lot of improvement, but we must look at ourselves still because there are a lot of things we must still rectify.”
Photo: CHRISTOPHE SIMON / AFP