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There was a revealing comment from Rassie Erasmus as he sought to make sense of South Africa’s defeat to France in Paris.“It’s probably a cliche, but I definitely think we had enough opportunities and there were simple tries we could have scored with one last pass,” the Springboks supremo began. “Perhaps one or two wrong decisions, such as not kicking for the corner and rather expecting the referee to give four penalties in a row.
“In front of a crowd like this you might feel you have dominance, but it’s just human not to keep on penalising the home team if they’ve already got a card or two.”
It was the second time this season that Erasmus had made a remark of that sort. The first followed the opening “Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry” Test against New Zealand, where a key penalty won by the All Blacks had triggered a huge swing. It prompted a switch in strategy from the Springboks, thereafter happy to take the three points on their way to a 3-1 series success; perhaps, after a two-point defeat in Paris, here was Erasmus again recognising the value of a kick at goal.
All Blacks ganando un penal de scrum en su propia línea de ingoal contra el mejor scrummaging de todos los tiempos#Rugby#SAvNZLpic.twitter.com/v00RPWvHGF
— Pasión Por Rugby (@PasionPorRugby) August 23, 2026
But look a little further back and an intriguing pattern emerges. South Africa’s win over Ireland last November featured one of the most comprehensive displays of physical dominance seen at Test level for decades, and particularly at scrum time. The hosts lost both Andrew Porter and Paddy McCarthy to the sin bin for repeated offences. But the eventual winning margin was just 11 points; Ireland had a shot until the very last minutes, with South Africa having again passed up penalties at goal or kicks to the corner to make a point around the hour mark. No-one doubts that the Springboks boast the best pack on the planet. But is their scrum obsession costing them?
To study why, it is worth considering a referee’s psychology. Matthew Carley of England was in charge of both that All Blacks Test and the Ireland game last November, and on each occasion eventually broke the cycle of Springboks scrum penalties. Italian official Andrea Piardi, on Friday night, was similarly strong.
The key sequence to which Erasmus seems to have been referring came around the 63-minute mark. France captain Antoine Dupont had already been warned about his team’s general conduct, before Piardi called him again to provide a scrum warning. South Africa – unsurprisingly – called for set-piece skirmish again. After France produce a much sturdier effort, the ball pops free…with Piardi belatedly picking out an infringement but not going to his pocket, as he had suggested he might.
When South Africa call to scrum again, the French front row seems more obviously to go down under pressure – but Piardi commands the Springboks to play away. They heed the call, and Pieter-Steph du Toit is held up in goal two phases later.
Clearly, officials want some degree of flow in the game; it can be no-one’s wish for a game to simply be dominated by repeated scrums. While there is no desire to remove the contest from that area, in the purest sense the scrum is merely a mechanism to restart the game and create space elsewhere. In their pursuit of penalties, South Africa are maybe neglecting to consider the attacking opportunities that can be presented off of a steady set-piece. As if to prove Erasmus’s point, when they later kick to the corner, Malcolm Marx goes over from a juggernaut lineout drive – one of two maul scores in the game from the Springboks. Perhaps it is a better option.
Even the late switch of front rows before kick off , which would not be permitted at a World Cup or in the Six Nations, felt like scrum-time mind games. Another telling moment came about seven minutes after that Du Toit missed opportunity. Cameron Woki, the French flanker, had knocked on in an attempted tackle, granting South Africa an advantage. Almost immediately, with his side down seven points and still in possession, replacement scrum half Cobus Reinach can be heard calling to referee Piardi: “We want the scrum”. Admittedly, it is from that skirmish that they draw a penalty that sets up the position that leads to Marx’s try.
UNSTOPPABLE!💪
Malcolm Marx scores his 32nd try for the Springboks and the game is on a knife edge 🤯#ITVRugbypic.twitter.com/oVCXUYuR2t
— ITV Rugby (@ITVRugby) November 13, 2026
The scrum, inherently, is an area of complexity but not necessarily clarity. Erasmus is all too aware of this – at a training camp in Jersey ahead of the November Tests in 2024, The Independent was one of a number of publications told at length by the Springboks boss how he thought his side would have to find other ways of winning games if they are to win a third straight World Cup. The back-to-back world champions had mastered the grey areas and often come out on the right side – but in these last 12 months, a couple of 50-50 calls that might have gone their way have fallen against them.
“We couldn’t just rely on the scrums and the mauls, which are a grey area for the referee where it’s almost impossible sometimes to get it right,” Erasmus explained two years ago. “Sometimes we are not sure why the scrum has fallen down. And we relied so much on scrums and mauls.Iif we’re going to expect referees to get those grey areas 100 per cent right, we might lose matches by a point here or five points there.” I Hence the attacking expansion under Tony Brown, with Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu at the heart of it.
Equally, opposition scrum coaches have sometimes felt that South Africa’s reputation counts in their favour. World Rugby have sought to crack down on subtle differences in technique that can cause instability, with particular focus on the loosehead prop’s right shoulder. Look at the difference in bind on the hooker between the South African props and that of France, and the angles that creates.
Ox Nche is a remarkable force as a scrummager, but has a tendency to set-up tight to his hooker, leaving both little space for the opposing tighthead and often causing them to overbalance.
Nche is far from unique in that respect, mind, and such pictures are easier to spot from overhead – a luxury referees do not have. World Rugby want “temple to temple” on the crouch and bind calls, and Ireland are another team that are understood to have been talked to about how they pack down.
How Andy Farrell’s side attempt to counter the Springboks could be a fascinating battle within the battle when they dance in Dublin again next Saturday. It is English referee Christophe Ridley in charge – he may look to set the tone at the scrum with an early free kick or penalty.
This is, though, just one area of many that South Africa will study closely after the France defeat. Erasmus, for what it is worth, finished that initial answer like so: “But in the end, it comes down to the fact that they played well, and we didn’t.” Maybe that is the simpler truth.
Match images courtesy of ITV
https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/south-africa-obsession-scrum-costing-101353818.html