South Africa coach Peter de Villiers labels Wallabies scrum cheats

[travelling_gerry]

From Darren Walton in Cape Town, South Africa
August 04, 2009 South Africa coach Peter de Villiers has lit the fuse for an explosive Tri-Nations battle on Saturday, accusing the Australia scrum of milking penalties at the set piece.
The Wallabies scrum, and in particular veteran tighthead Al Baxter, has been maligned for years as weakness and De Villiers says they deliberately use negative tactics in order to gain parity with their international rivals.

"They will go to ground if they want to and will bring that negativity in," De Villiers told local reporters at a coaching clinic outside of Cape Town.

"They know that they are busy losing, but they will try to milk a penalty from the other side. So we will have to see how we match up to them."

De Villiers is expecting the Wallabies to be a more difficult proposition than New Zealand, who the Springboks beat 31-19 in Durban on Saturday, a week after also accounting for the All Blacks 28-19 in Bloemfontein.

"(The Wallabies) definitely give more attention to the lineouts because they play much closer to each other, in channel one and two, before they play across the field," de Villiers said.

"So those little things are important. There is a very big difference to the Wallabies and All Blacks.

"The Wallabies are much more structured. They will keep you busy for much longer as they retain the ball for much longer.

"They play phases to frustrate you much more, they force you to go offside and they have a very good kicker in (Matt) Giteau."

De Villiers was scheduled to name his team to tackle the Wallabies at 8.30pm Tuesday AEST, with the coach facing a selection dilemma after five-eighth Ruan Pienaar declared himself fit to play after recovering from an ankle injury.

It would come as quite a shock to the Wallabies if he opted for Pienaar over the in-form Morne Steyn, whose deadly goal kicking has been the highlight of South Africa's fabulous start to the international season.

In a spectacular entrance to Test rugby, Steyn has missed just two shots at goal and played a succession of starring roles since debuting against the British and Lions in June before seemingly cementing his place in the Boks' starting XV when he scored all 31 points in Saturday's triumph over the All Blacks.

Most pundits believe Steyn is the perfect fit for South Africa's suffocating style of play based on unrelenting pressure which forces the opposition into committing errors and conceding penalties in goal-kicking range.

But if any coach in world rugby is capable of shock tactics it is the eccentric de Villiers, whose odd off-field behaviour has tended to deflect the focus from anything the Springboks achieve on the field.

It remains likely, though, that Pienaar - who was forced from the field at half-time in Bloemfontein - will make his comeback via the bench.

The Wallabies seem to think so, with all the talk out of their camp this week indicating they were focusing on being ultra-disciplined on Saturday in order to avoid suffering the same fate as the All Blacks when Steyn nailed a record eight penalty goals at ABSA Stadium.

AAP

http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,...-32464,00.html

[KenyaQuin]

Agreed..all the above.

[welshrugbyfan]

I noticed the boks aren't playing a blindside or open flanker. They just always go with the left/right side of the scrum no matter how close they get to the touch line.

Must feel both flankers can play either and there is no real difference.

I always like the philosophy of big dog on the blind, terrier on the open.

[mudskipper]

Best news is we have a NZ ref and not A Safer at this match... Peter de Villiers is a walking headline with a stutter... He just trying to sway the officials… I k hope they take offence to his leading statements come Saturday night…

[travelling_gerry]

August 05, 2009 .The Wallabies have rejected claims from Springboks coach Peter de Villiers that the Australian scrum attempts to milk penalties at the set piece.

Firing the first psychological shot ahead of Saturday's Tri Nations clash in Cape Town, de Villiers accused the Wallabies of deliberately collapsing scrums out of sheer desperation.

"They will go to ground if they want to and will bring that negativity in," de Villiers said.

"They know that they are busy losing, but they will try to milk a penalty from the other side. So we will have to see how we match up to them."

De Villiers' inflammatory remarks were no doubt intended to attract the attention of Irish referee Allain Roland, who will control the Newlands Test.

But Wallabies lock Nathan Sharpe said it made no sense for the Wallabies to bring down the scrum, especially after prop Al Baxter was so heavily penalised by South African referee Craig Joubert for collapsing the set piece during New Zealand's series-opening 22-16 win over Australia last month.

"I don't think any team in the world would go out with those type of tactics because it is just too hit and miss. The referee can see it anyway they want," Sharpe said.

With Springboks five-eighth Morne Steyn in deadly goalkicking form, Sharpe said it would be foolish of the Wallabies to try to test the referee out.

"Discipline against these guys is paramount," he said.

"Certainly giving away penalties as we did in Auckland is not going to help anyone's cause. That's an area we have addressed.

"(Steyn) doesn't miss too many, does he?"

De Villiers has named an unchanged starting XV to tackle the Wallabies, resisting the temptation to recall his pet five-eighth Ruan Pienaar following his recovery from an ankle injury and sticking with Steyn, who scored all of South Africa's points in last Saturday's 31-19 victory over the All Blacks in Durban.

http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,...-32464,00.html

[AndyS]

Best news is we have a NZ ref and not A Safer at this match...

No we don't, we have:

• Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland)
  Assistant referees: Nigel Owens (Wales), Tim Hayes (Wales)
  Television match official: Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)
  Timekeeper: Gabriel Pappas (South Africa)
  Assessor: Michel Lamoulie (France)

[tdevil]

This article is a bit rich coming from the arrogant Saffers.....masters when it come to cheating, eye gouching, ear biting, etc

[zimeric]

not to mention Beasts blatant pushing inwards in the first Lions test.

[welshrugbyfan]

This article is a bit rich coming from the arrogant Saffers.....masters when it come to cheating, eye gouching, ear biting, etc

[Thequeerone]

but it is even more bizarre considering how inconsistent all the international referees have been at policing both breakdowns and scrums - unfortunately it appears that most refs are getting it into their heads early in a game that one team is taking a "lend" and the penalty count mounts against that team.

Sharpie is right refs decisions at the moment are a complete lottery and given that all the teams are so close why would you bother trying to cheat - lets face it there are only 20 odd cameras on you and 60,000 + spectators it's not like nobody is going to notice.

[James]

Alain Rolland is a biscuit. I'm not saying he will necessarily favour either team but one of them will probably get some gifts due to his incompetance.

I wonder if De Villiers really thinks this kind of spouting really works?

I don't think the Aussie scrums cheats any more than that of any other national team. It wouldn't surprise me in the least if Baxter's incompetance was responsible for a large number of those collapsed scrums but noone can honestly say that the Boks and the Blacks don't use that to win themselves a few cheeky penalties by making it look like thats what he's doing. Besides which as Zim says the Bok front row is always boring in.

[zimeric]

i must say though the boks were pushed off the ball several times in the last match, i was very impressed with the AB's scrum at times.. pity their game plan, brain farts and ball handling skills let them down.

[Ecky]

TQ1 and James:

Have either of you ever actually refereed a game?

I am not having a go at you if you have or have not, just enquiring as your replies will help me understand your mindset in this thread.

[zimeric]

I think what youre really trying to say Ecky is that people in glass houses shouldnt cook barefoot...

Reffing is a tough gig however there are definitely areas where top level ref's need parity and i believe we are not seeing it at the moment... too many opinions on what is right and its not just the refs, fans, commentators hell even the coachs all have their own views on what is right and what is wrong...

I think the Robbie deans summed it up perfectly a couple of weeks ago when questioned on his thoughts of the ref after the wallabies AB's game. He simply said that the players have to be aware of the ref's requirements and adjust accordingly.. this failure to adjust was their downfall not the fact that the ref was constantly pinging Baxter...

[Thequeerone]

Ecky I haven't - and really really emphasise with the lot of the Referee especially at the moment - at the international level there is a definite inconsistancy in the way that the breakdown and scrums are managed and it is probably a lot easier for a spectator at home to catch the odd eye gouging etc..

Having said that I would love the TMO with the same benefit of the extra screens have the ability to "mention" that so and so is "whatever" rather than leave the ref looking like an idiot on the TV as is happening at the moment.

Honestly one of the strengths of the game is the fact that the ref is always right even when he is wrong - and I would always uphold that but can you really defend a game whereby people consistently manipulate the rules to the refs perception of whether their naughty actions had a material effect on the game as is the case at the moment.

More Black and White stuff.