Bower fires scrum warning at Springboks ahead of series-deciding Soweto test

All Blacks loosehead George Bower has issued a direct challenge to the Springbok scrum ahead of the series-deciding third test in Soweto, insisting New Zealand are ready to match South Africa’s set-piece power after a week of pointed exchanges between the two coaching camps.

The series is locked at 1-1 after the Springboks recovered from losing the opener to take the second test, and the scrum has dominated the build-up. All Blacks head coach Dave Rennie accused the Boks of walking around the scrum, drawing a sharp rebuttal from Rassie Erasmus, who defended his players robustly throughout the week.

Bower, speaking to the media ahead of the match, showed no sign of being unsettled by the noise. “Oh, I love to scrum. I want to scrum. There’s been a lot of talk around both sides of the scrum, but it comes down to that first scrum. We’ll see who does the talking,” he said.

“I know South Africa’s mindset is they pride themselves on their scrum, and they see it as their avenue to get penalties and move up the field. For us as well, you can see after Test one our mindset for our scrum is we’re right up there as well. We want to challenge them. We know they’re coming, but we’re coming too.”

Bower added that the key for New Zealand would be internal discipline rather than worrying about the opposition. “As a pack, we must just focus on our connection and tightness, our brace and our set, and hopefully that nullifies what the South Africans bring this weekend.”

Rennie has made notable changes to the All Blacks pack for the decider. Hooker Codie Taylor, who typically leads the pre-match Haka, has been dropped in favour of Asafo Aumua, while Sam Darry comes in at lock and Peter Lakai takes the No. 6 jersey.

Despite having ignited the scrum controversy himself, Rennie moved to cool the temperature around the war of words. “We certainly aren’t going out of our way to create narratives and I don’t see this as a war of words between myself and Rassie Erasmus,” he said. “I said a couple of things and he said a couple of things. I think the Springboks have done the same thing, so it’s now up to the referee and his support staff to referee what he sees in front of him.”

With a series victory on the line, the scrum battle between two of the game’s most physical packs looks set to be the defining contest of the afternoon in Soweto.