‘We would scrum against 11 players’ – Schalk Brits reveals secrets of Springboks’ set-piece dominance
Former Springboks hooker Schalk Brits has delved into why they have become such a feared scrummaging unit under Rassie Erasmus.
The set-piece has always been a hallmark of South African rugby but it has become particularly potent over the last few years.
Erasmus made a conscious effort to focus on what was considered the Boks’ ‘DNA’ and it paid dividends as they claimed the 2019 Rugby World Cup.
Change of coaches
Scrum coach during that tournament, Matt Proudfoot, then departed and Daan Human, who worked with Brits at the Bulls, joined the set-up in 2020.
The former hooker told some funny tales about playing in South Africa and also discussed what Human brings to the Springboks.
“The scrum isn’t about individuals, it’s about the team. If you scrummed back in the day, when we were focusing so hard on the scrums, we would scrum not against eight, we would scrum against 10 or 11 or 12,” he said on The Good, The Bad and The Rugby South Africa podcast.
“Daan coached us at the Bulls and he’s probably evolved and changed a couple of things but the guy is just so passionate about scrumming, it goes a long way.
“There’s no scrum machine anymore, it’s gone. It’s bone on bone, flesh on flesh, off you go.”
‘A punch or 10 thrown’
He added: “What is great is in the olden days, you would try to beat the living crap out of each other. It would get heated and at the Lions there was a punch or 10 thrown, and that was standard – every scrum session or every mauling session.
“This [Boks] group does get heated I guess but it’s always in a sense of, ‘what did you do here? How can I learn from that?’
“The boys are not angry when scrummaging but they love it, they’ve made it a passion and so it’s hard for a guy that’s so excited to do one part of it [to do another].”
Another ex-Bok Gcobani Bobo was also appearing on the show and shared a joke with Brits, who was renowned for his skills in the loose rather than his scrummaging work.
“Schalla wanted Tony Brown before Tony Brown came in,” Bobo quipped, before Brits responded: “I wanted to play in [this team], not the kicking, chasing, kicking, chasing!
