{"id":1114828,"date":"2026-07-27T20:37:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T20:37:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1114828\/"},"modified":"2026-07-27T20:37:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T20:37:15","slug":"ex-england-star-claims-springboks-earned-the-right-to-extra-second-in-the-scrum-as-50-50-decisions-go-world-champions-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1114828\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-England star claims Springboks ‘earned the right’ to ‘extra second’ in the scrum as 50\/50 decisions go world champions way"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former England<\/a> international Dan Cole has revealed exactly what makes the Springboks scrum so dangerous after analysing whether any chinks could be found in the world champions\u2019 armour.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cole once again appeared on his podcast,\u00a0For The Love Of Rugby,\u00a0alongside long-time friend and teammate Ben Youngs, as they looked ahead to the upcoming Greatest Rivalry tour between South Africa and New Zealand.<\/a><\/p>\n

The All Blacks are facing the unenviable task of challenging Rassie Erasmus\u2019 men four Saturdays on the bounce, with the greatest two countries in international rugby history clashing three times in South Africa and then rounding off the series in the United States of America.<\/p>\n

In recent years, the Springboks<\/a> have become the overwhelming power at the set-piece, with a scrum that dominates all others. Having faced this devastating force on more than one occasion, most infamously in the final at the 2019 Rugby World Cup, Cole knows exactly the threat that these men pose.<\/p>\n

Big, 130-plus-kilo men\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have incredibly large men that know the importance of a scrum,\u201d Cole explained. \u201cWhen you think about their front row, you think about the great tightheads they have had from [Frans] Malherbe to [Thomas] Du Toit<\/a>, Wilco Louw. They are big, 130-plus-kilo men, which are not easy to find on this planet. You have hookers like Malcolm Marx and Bongi [Mbonambi] who basically want to scrummage and are big men, and they are bigger hookers than you have elsewhere.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe looseheads may not be that big, but they are incredibly strong. Second rows, they have 125, 13o-kilo locks. So mass moves mass, and at some point they have got a ginormous pure mass. They are normally winning in size, and combine that with their attitude to the scrum.\u201d<\/p>\n

Such has been the impact the South African<\/a> scrum has on the global game, Cole has suggested 50\/50 decisions are now being waved in favour of the Springboks.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause it\u2019s South Africa, they almost get an extra second,\u201d he continued. \u201cThey get a nudge on, and they end up getting a penalty because they built that psyche and they earned the right to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reassessing the England forwards depth chart following Nations Championship that gave Steve Borthwick \u2018chance to reflect\u2019<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

No weakness in sight<\/p>\n

Games can turn on a knife-edge when replacements are made, as the tired starters make way for the fresher legs off the bench, but the All Blacks shouldn\u2019t expect any respite when Erasmus rings his changes.<\/p>\n

\u201cNormally when you play South Africa, you pick your best scrum; your best front row that can scrummage, but the guys on the bench aren\u2019t as good as your starters,\u201d Cole continued. \u201cSo you basically struggle in the second half of the game, whereas South Africa, their starters are good and the bench can be even better or just as good.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo they almost have a strength on a strength, and they double down on that strength, knowing that you might be able to last with them for 50, 60 minutes, but actually the full length of the game, they will get you and they punish you. So as a scrum, you have to know you\u2019re going to have to go 80.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a daunting challenge for any side, so how does an opposition pack deal with such a prospect? Mindset is the only way. \u201cThey are going to be on top, but you have to have the ability and the mindset to go, \u2018We\u2019re going to dig in. We\u2019re going to take one and then seven of us, eight of us, are going to hit go and then the eight can play the ball away. But everyone else has to front up and take on this challenge and try and live to see another day.’\u201d<\/p>\n

Springboks latest: Rassie Erasmus increases squad size with Stormers star recalled for Argentina Test and Greatest Rivalry series<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

For or against the head<\/p>\n

Co-host Youngs<\/a> asked: \u201cWould it be harder on your ball or hard on their ball?\u201d \u201cIt can be harder on your ball because you know they\u2019re coming at you, and also your hooker\u2019s got to hook the ball,\u201d considered Cole.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn opposition ball, you can semi-lock out because eight of you, your only job is if this ball gets out of the scrum, it\u2019s the result. Whereas on your own ball, you know they\u2019re going to be aggressive; they\u2019re only going to attack. But you\u2019re also like, \u2018We\u2019re going to hook this ball and get it out and not get penalised\u2019. So there\u2019s a lot of the thinking process on your own ball.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut again, as a hooker, there aren\u2019t many like Marx at 120 kilos. There aren\u2019t many hookers in the world that are that size, and for you to then go off two feet when you have got these guys pushing fully against you, two feet in the ground, ready to snap. You\u2019ve basically got to push, lift your foot up. Those guys are probably bigger and stronger than you on two feet versus your one foot.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE:\u00a0Rugby Transfers: James Lowe confirmed as Springbok\u2019s replacement in Japan, Exeter Chiefs bolster ranks and Aussie talents reject NRL advances to commit to rugby union<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former England international Dan Cole has revealed exactly what makes the Springboks scrum so dangerous after analysing whether…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1114829,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5008],"tags":[748,76145,393,4884,225,90462,12,2196,16,15],"class_list":["post-1114828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-england","tag-britain","tag-dan-cole","tag-england","tag-great-britain","tag-home-page","tag-internationals","tag-news","tag-south-africa","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116993867601138780","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1114828","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1114828"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1114828\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1114829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1114828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1114828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1114828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}