Jason Ryan admits All Blacks lost eight scrum 'rounds' but won the ones that mattered against Springboks

All Blacks assistant coach Jason Ryan has likened New Zealand’s scrum battle against the Springboks to a 12-round boxing match, admitting his side probably lost eight of those rounds during their Test victory at Ellis Park in Johannesburg.

The All Blacks claimed a 17-point win over the back-to-back World Champions in front of 60,000 spectators, a result that hinged on a pivotal scrum penalty won deep inside their own 22 in the 56th minute. That moment halted a sustained Springbok siege and shifted the momentum decisively in New Zealand’s favour.

“I’ve always sort of used the analogy to the boys that scrummaging can be a little bit like 12 rounds of boxing,” Ryan said. “You might not win every round, and we probably lost eight last night. But we won a couple of big ones to get some points up, so yeah, satisfied. But more work to do.”

The scale of the scrum battle was underscored by the raw numbers Ryan shared. The All Blacks faced 15 scrums on their own ball — nearly three times the five or six they typically encounter across recent Tests — and a further four on Springbok ball. The workload was compounded by an early knee strain to loosehead prop Ethan de Groot, who Ryan said was effectively “hanging off one leg” for much of the contest, all while competing at altitude against the world’s best.

“I think we probably learnt more as a pack in that 50 minutes than what we would have experienced in 100 trainings,” Ryan said. “It was a perfect storm, really. But the boys adapted extremely well from the midst of half-time, and we got the benefits.”

Ryan revealed he showed just one clip at the break, focusing on the need for the front row to scrummage as a connected unit of three rather than relying on the back five to generate power alone. The adjustment paid off when a Springbok infringement at scrum time — stemming from stepping around on the left — produced the penalty that changed the game.

“That sort of really was a moment in the Test match. In fact, that was probably the moment, and then we went to the maul and got a bit of advantage there and got back into the game.”

Dave Rennie’s bench also drew praise for providing scrum stability in the second half at a point when the starting front row was under significant physical strain. Ryan acknowledged the victory came at a cost, but suggested the experience would prove invaluable for the pack’s development ahead of future Tests.