Smit: All Blacks Need More Scrum Time

John Smit, the former Springbok captain and 2007 World Cup winner, has pointed out that South Africa’s prowess in the scrum stems from their involvement in different club competitions compared to New Zealand. He highlighted this during the I Love Rugby podcast, emphasizing the value of set-piece and kicking game in their current competitions.

The change in the competitive environment, with South Africa’s teams playing in the Champions Cup and the United Rugby Championship (URC), has allowed the Springboks to enhance their scrummaging skills.

"We get tested in the Champions Cup against some of the best scrums, we get tested in the URC, so the scrum and the kicking game has remained of massive importance in the competitions that we’re playing."

By contrast, Smit criticized the focus of Super Rugby, suggesting it prioritizes attacking play over the traditional strengths of set-piece tactics, which might be causing the All Blacks to lag in this area.

"Super Rugby is still such an exciting tournament to win but there’s not a huge emphasis on kicking tactics and set-piece; it’s more about playing the All Black way," Smit said. He added that the lack of scrummaging pressure makes it hard for New Zealand's forwards to develop in this crucial part of the game.

"You can train in the gym as much as you want, but if you don’t put enough time in the ring and you don’t scrum every week, and you don’t get tested by hard opposition, it’s very difficult to understand what the level is."

During the recent Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series, which South Africa won, Smit observed the All Blacks’ reluctance to engage the Boks in scrums. He noted that New Zealand often chose to play the ball quickly from scrums to avoid giving South Africa too many opportunities to capitalize on their stronger scrum.

"Every ball they had was channel one, they didn’t want to give the Boks too many scrum feeds, which they were good at," he remarked.

According to Smit, the Boks have built a formidable scrummaging unit through a blend of strong personnel, effective technique, and relentless effort. Smit praised specific players for their contributions to building a robust scrum.

"Truth be told, we’ve got Ox Nché on the one side, we’ve got Malcolm Marx in the middle and then we’ve got Wilco Louw at 140-odd kgs; you add a little bit of work and technique to that, it gets hard to stop," he explained.

As the All Blacks look forward to improving their set-piece play, the insights from seasoned players like Smit provide a clear direction on the importance of consistently challenging and rigorous training in real-match scenarios.