"Give me a strong tighthead prop and I’ll build you a strong rugby team". That is a quote mostly attributed to the late Springbok coach Kitch Christie, but it really could have been uttered by anyone older than 75 who has ever coached a team to any great success in the game of rugby union.
There is another old-school saying that claims that "The two most important positions in a rugby team is the tighthead prop and the reserve tighthead prop!"
Those wrinkly codgers must have loved this last round of Super Rugby. For once they could take the full two minutes needed to raise a gnarled finger and creak at us: "I told you!"
We should have listened the first time round. As we saw for ourselves this weekend, old fogeys aren't always wrong.
On Saturday we saw in both local games that a winning effort starts with the big men upfront, and that the modern notion of scrums being little more than just quick restarts to the game is way off the mark.
In Johannesburg on Saturday we saw the Lions scrum literally bulldoze their Jaguares counterparts for almost the entire match. It changed the entire shape of the match.
What ended up being a 13-point try-fest could easily have gone the other way if the Argentinians were able to score in the opening moments of the match after they were awarded a five-metre scrum after some sloppy handling by Wandile Simelane. But instead of scoring they got muscled off the ball, conceding a penalty that allowed the home side to escape.
Versions of this happened throughout the first half, and if the Jaguares had only parity upfront they could have had a handy lead, forcing the Lions to play catch-up rugby (something the'’ve been struggling to do lately).
The Joburg match showed that not only can a scrum serve as the platform to launch an attack from, but it can just as easily stop an opposition attack at source.
This is the perfect opportunity to bemoan the fall from grace of the Argentinian frontrow. Los Pumas were always revered for their scrumming abilities, with their Bajada variant being the stuff of legend. All that know-how seems to have been lost ever since they joined Super Rugby, and the tournament is much poorer for it.
The opposite is true in Pretoria, where the Bulls scrum has undergone a remarkable turnaround in the off-season, changing an aspect of their game that caused them to be perennial strugglers into what is now one of their main weapons.
On Saturday Liza Gcoboka and Trevor Nyakane made a huge statement about the Bulls' intent this year when they grabbed the all-Springbok Sharks frontrow of Beast Mtwarira, Akker van der Merwe and Coenie Oosthuizen by the short and curlies and dragged them all over the Loftus pitch.
That is a feat very few scrums have been capable of, and one that couldn't have gone unnoticed by the Springbok selectors in this all-important World Cup year.
Well, what has changed for them in the off-season, you may ask. The short answer is that they started taking it seriously. They appointed former Stormers and Toulouse strongman Daan Human to consult with them for a couple of sessions a week. They also embraced the immense intellectual property brought across by overseas veterans Schalk Brits and Duane Vermeulen and turned all of those outside influences into gold.
Previously the Pretoria outfit made use of former Bulls players like Wessel Roux and Gary Botha to take care of that aspect of the game, and as mentioned earlier, not with much success.
Human, despite having to share his available time between the Bulls and the Cheetahs, seems to be so effective up north because he does not come from that Loftus echo-chamber. His ideas are foreign and invigorating, and the players are responding remarkably.
It begs the question: if a change in coaching personnel could have such a drastic impact, why did it take the Bulls so long to pull the trigger, and how many massively talented youngsters have left Loftus without ever getting the guidance necessary to make it to the top? I shudder to think.
The Lions' scrum successes also have a lot to do with coaching, but in their case it has been that way for a long time now.
With the legendary Balie Swart barking orders next to the scrum machine, they have been able to churn out a whole host of Springbok frontrowers without ever having to buy any big names. Under Balie's watch the Springboks gained strong scrummagers like Heinke van der Merwe, Brian Mujati, Pat Cilliers, JC Janse van Rensburg (uncapped), Julian Redelinghuys and Ruan Dreyer - seamlessly replacing one slab of prime muscle with another year after year.
And despite some changes in personnel, the Lions frontrow factory seems to be running as smooth as ever. On Saturday we saw one of the most dominant scrum performances in the whole of Super Rugby's 23-year history, and in Dylan Smith and the walking fridge Carlu Sadie they seem to have found two jewels once again.
Balie Swart no longer coaches at Emirates Airlines Park, but in former pupil Julian Redelinghuys he has found a very capable replacement. He has also not thrown him in at the deep end. Redelinghuys has nothing but praise for everything "Oom Balie the legend" has taught him and he regards his new position as "a complete blessing".
It is South African rugby that is blessed with that smooth handover.
There is one thing that Balie Swart, Julian Redelinghuys, Daan Human and, at Bok level, Pieter de Villiers and Matt Proudfoot has in common. They are all former International props, now ploughing back into the game. All our top teams should have one.
Together these guys have given the country a whole lot of depth in a position where most of our International opponents are vulnerable. These colossuses will have had a big role to play if the Boks somehow manage to push their way to World Cup victory.
Give me a strong tighthead and I'll build you a strong team. True as ever, especially if that tighthead is retired and now spends his time drilling youngsters.
