Springbok tighthead colossus Wilco Louw has humbly shared the credit for South Africa's dominant scrum performances, saying all his colleagues in the pack need to be in the right positions and aligned with each other to be successful in that set-piece.
Louw has been in inspired form for the last 18 months for the Bulls and the Springboks, and is possibly the best tighthead prop in the world right now.
Lately he has been coming off the bench to sow even more destruction against tired opposition forwards in the second half.
But while the 144kg, 1.85m behemoth makes it look simple when he goes into beast mode, Louw said this week in Durban, where the Springboks are preparing for Saturday's Rugby Championship Test against Argentina, there is more to successful scrummaging than just brute force.
“It's a bit more technical than just thinking I am going to smash this guy and go forward. We have to make sure that all of our systems are in place and all the players are in position,” he said.
“Scrummaging is not just about one guy, it's eight forwards being in sync. The flank behind you, the hooker next to you, you all need to be on the same page.
“Playing off the bench now, I have a certain role, but my first jobs are scrums and mauls. We all have our different roles to make sure we get dominance in those.”
Thomas du Toit has got his role too. As the starting tighthead, he has an incredible work-rate, and not forgetting Daan Human and the hard work he puts in to make sure the Boks are conditioned to scrum, he said.
“We try to put as much pressure on the opposition on their ball as we do on ours, because as soon as they start moving backwards, they are under more pressure and it's more difficult for their loose forwards to get out.”
The suspicion persists that World Rugby is trying to depower scrums and referees do not always reward the Springboks with penalties when their clear dominance causes the opposition to infringe.
The All Blacks' front row lying flat on the ground was a regular and often unpunished feature of the last two Rugby Championship matches.
But the former Harlequins front rower says the players are not overly concerned with how the scrums are being officiated.
“We sometimes feel things are different in the scrum than what the referee sees on the outside, they see a different picture. But hopefully if you are dominant by legal means then you get reward.
“Hopefully your picture that you are showing is a positive one and then the dominant scrum gets reward most of the time,” Louw said.
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