Retired England stars Ben Youngs and Dan Cole have praised the Springboks’ physical dominance at scrum time.
The Boks, who sealed back-to-back Rugby Championship titles for the first time with their 29-27 win over Argentina at Twickenham, once again underlined their trademark strength up front.
At one point, a seven-man scrum – with Pieter-Steph du Toit filling in at scrumhalf while Canan Moodie was in the sin bin – shoved Argentina’s eight-man pack off their own ball, leaving fans and pundits in disbelief.
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That level of power didn’t go unnoticed by two men who know it all too well. Both Youngs and Cole were part of the England teams that lost to the Springboks in the 2019 World Cup final and 2023 semi-final, where scrum dominance proved decisive.
“The Springboks, rightly so, have won it back-to-back,” said Youngs on their For The Love of Rugby podcast. “They’re the best team in the tournament. But it’s berserk when you’re facing that scrum, is there even a way to nullify it?”
Cole, England’s veteran tighthead who packed down against the Boks in both those World Cup defeats, said what sets the South African scrum apart is their ability to stay square and generate power.
“You look at the ginormous second-rows they pick and the big back-rowers – they engage hard and stay square,” said Cole.
“There were those five-metre goal-line scrums where they were literally going through Argentina; there’s not a lot you can do if you’re defending. If you stay up, you’re just going backwards.”
He explained that even when opponents try to play around the contact areas – as Argentina attempted at Twickenham – one handling error is all it takes for the Boks to drag them into a contest they can’t win.
“You can try to avoid it, but it affects your whole game. Every knock-on or fumble, you know you’re giving them a penalty and defending another 15 phases. That pressure builds – it’s psychological as much as physical.”
South Africa’s dominance has been staggering. Across the six Rugby Championship matches, the Springboks won 19 scrum penalties, compared to just eight for New Zealand, two for Australia and one for Argentina.
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Photo: Phil Walter/Getty Images
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