WALLABIES TARGET BOKS' SCRUM; Rugby 365

BLOEMFONTEIN SPOTLIGHT: AUSTRALIA PROP SEKOPE KEPU WILL BE EAGER TO NULLIFY SOUTH AFRICA'S SCRUMMAGING DEPARTMENT WHEN THEY FACE EACH OTHER IN ROUND FIVE OF THE RUGBY CHAMPIONSHIP IN BLOEMFONTEIN ON SATURDAY.

Australia struggled against the Springboks pack in their 23-all draw in Perth, particularly in the second half, before dominating the Argentinians, who are renowned for the scrummaging power, in their last start in Canberra.

When asked about the improvement in the Wallabies scrum from Perth to Canberra, Wallabies prop Kepu, who drew level with prolific try scorer Ben Alexander for most tries scored by a Wallaby prop in crossing for the five-pointer against the Los Pumas, revealed that they are still far from where they need to be for the psychical Springboks’ scrum.

"There is still improvement to be made [when it comes to our scrum], by no means are we happy with that," Kepu said.

"We have to keep building that consistency as I have always talked about.

"South Africans have a great scrum with their big front row, and there are always boys to fill the gaps. They have used it as a weapon for the last few games so it is something that is a strength of theirs.

"Every scrum is different and every pack works technically in their own ways.

"So, the challenge is always something new, something different, each week,"

The Wallabies have also been struggling to close out games. They gave up a 10-point lead and eventually had to settle for the draw in Perth.

Their inability to play the full 80-minutes also contributed to their heart-breaking 29-35 loss to New Zealand in Round two.

Nonetheless, Kepu said the squad had dissected the issues at hand after the struggles in Perth.

"I think we took the foot off the throat, a little bit," he said.

"I think we were a bit unlucky with some of those decisions but you look a week ahead against the All Blacks, there were a lot of massive battles there.

"It just the challenge to finish off teams. However, we worked on it against Argentina and now it's back to the Boks.

"They [South Africa] showed against the All Blacks that they can disrupt the ball, muscle through and cause some havoc," Kepu said.

Source: @qantaswallabies

 Headline is a little misleading, it's not like Wobblies are saying Boks have a weak scrum. Hope the Boks thrash them

 
When did the South Africans disrupt the All Blacks' ball? When did they "muscle through and cause havoc" ... ?

If the Wallabies are going to be spinning a yarn for Coetzee's benefit then it would be best to keep it a little closer to the truth.

Tell you one thing ... if props and hookers like Beast, Dreyer, Hamburger, Coenie and Bongi are regarded as tough, wait until we pick our front row on merit. These guys are all pretenders.

". . . wait until we pick our front row on merit."

That might be quite a long wait.

 
Isn't is depressing? To know that we have so much better ... and to know we'll never see them running out in the green and gold.

 My schooling of ou rooiwtit over the long years has finally borne fruit as the usually get it wrong oak now appears to favour merit. Its been a long process altering his "mind" from race based selections to merit based selections so take a bow Beeno! There could be something to salvage with regards to the hapless ou rooitwitterbug!
If that ignoramus Coetzee has Dreyer at tighthead the wobblies could certainly win the scrum battle. Trevor also doesn't inspire. Coetzee may as well start with the inexperienced Wilco who does look like he can scrum.Beeno of course identified the lack of scumming prowess regarding Dreyer some time ago. The  Redlinghuys loss was huge blow to the Lions and Boks.
Wee CC how about watching tennis - it might alleviate your depression. 

 I will be watching swimming on Saturday - so no need to be depressed about that scarecrow team of ours. 

 I will be watching swimming on Saturday - so no need to be depressed about that scarecrow team of ours. 

 
Nah ... I want to see them get pummeled.

I will definitely watch and cheer the Wallabies on. and if the Goats win I'll go looking for some tennis to cheer the soul up.

 

"My schooling of ou rooiwtit over the long years has finally borne fruit as the usually get it wrong oak now appears to favour merit. Its been a long process altering his "mind" from race based selections to merit based selections so take a bow Beeno!"

Baboon-ou, before you have a self-congratulatory ejaculation, can you find even one post or comment of mine where I ever advocated quotas or indicated that I was not in favour merit-based selections?

Just one?

You're not the first poster to accuse me of being pro-quotas but to date no-one has ever found a quote of mine where I've said anything of the sort.

What I have said in the past is that quotas in rugby are a reality so we'd best deal with it, but only an astonishingly stupid imbecile would think that's the same thing as supporting quotas.

 Last game and only test I have watched in Bloem was the 2010 when the Aussies won 41-39.Dan Vickerman was their anchor man that day,brilliant game.Outside of Durban that's the only venue they've won at since 95'.Aussie has never beaten Bo ks at Loftus or PE.

At the end of 2015, Meyer was offered the job to continue coaching, but I think he turned it down because he would not have been able to select the team with forced "demographic representation/quota" targets. 
The reality is that SARU could only select a coach who was prepared to increase "demographic representation as important- or even more so".  
Performance alone was no longer the main criteria for selection, with representation just as important. SARU said the same thing about Pdivvy. 
At the end of 2016 SARU wanted to fire Coetzee- but it is likely that they were not able to find a coach that could not select their own team.
Although, only an imbecile like CleanCut would label any non-white players as quotas. Beast has had a very good career, and Jantjies is easily the best flyhalf in South Africa at the moment, with 2 back to back Super Final appearances.
S elect the white journeyman Lionel Cronjie - and that will solve all the problems.... Or imaginary players that do not exist or Curry Cup players. (as the 1st choices...)