Deans: ‘We’ve been manipulated’
7 Aug 2009
Wallabies coach Robbie Deans has brushed off Peter de Villiers’s ‘scrum cheat’ claims.
The Australians have admired the Springboks’ recent performances, but Deans wasn’t pleased to hear De Villiers branding his side as cheats who deliberately collapse scrums to milk penalties. Tighthead Al Baxter was repeatedly penalised against the All Blacks in Auckland last month.
‘I did read that comment with interest where he suggested that we had manipulated others,’ he said at his first press conference on Thursday. ‘I’d suggest it’s probably the opposite.
‘I think we’ve been manipulated [by opposition scrum tactics]. We certainly haven’t had any benefit of manipulation, put it that way. We have to wise up a little bit, to be quite honest, because we have suffered the consequences.
‘We’ve got to master that. It’s not a good idea to leave that in the hands of another.’
Deans hopes to meet up with Saturday’s referee Alain Rolland to clarify what will be required from both front rows.
‘I understand there is an opportunity [to meet Rolland]. Those regulations seem to change from year to year with paranoia and other things,’ Deans said.
‘We’d certainly like to know if he has some areas of concern, particularly if our opposition meet and there’s something that surfaces out of that, because we’d like to know and be forewarned.
‘It’s always good to know if a referee enters a game with a preconceived idea of what he thinks he’ll experience.’
21 Comments
7 Aug 2009, 10:55 am
SCOUSER DRAGONS
7 Aug 2009, 11:41 am
wallabies booooooooooo
7 Aug 2009, 11:43 am
Cheating is too strong a word I.M.O.. I think they’re still suffering from that period when Bill Young was found to be scrumming illegaly.
It’s the same way that we get penalised on some borderline calls because of some past indescretions…
7 Aug 2009, 12:46 pm
interesting but the aussies do scrum in when under pressure or to gain the upper hand but then again what prop doesn’t use any method possible to gain the upper hand?
7 Aug 2009, 12:56 pm
Methinks the Beast will be feasting on tenderised Wallaby tomorrow.
7 Aug 2009, 12:59 pm
I think we could be in for a nasty surprise if we underestimate the Aussie forwards. Their scrum is not as “weak” as some believe and their lineouts will be a shed load more organised than the AB’s. When it comes to the breakdowns they have a pretty good record when it comes to turning the ball over.
I personally think we are going to physically boss them not up front but rather in the contact situation in the backline. We have a monster sized backline and Jaque Fourie is in the best form of his life.
For what it is worth I think if the bok backline can gain dominance early on we can target a bonus point win in this one, if, however we fall into the trap of thinking we can boss their forwards around it will be very close indeed.
7 Aug 2009, 13:14 pm
Sometimes the truth hurts, Mr Deans.
7 Aug 2009, 13:19 pm
Well as long as the pattern contiunes with a huge amount of collapsed scrums whenever a Aussie team plays, I think De Vils comments hold water. The tahs did it to the Sharks this season. Everytime the Sharks got a good hit the Tahs fell flat on there faces that is why the Tahs looke like they dominated the Sharks scrum because there was only a scrum that stayed up when they got a good hit.
7 Aug 2009, 13:33 pm
Oh please, the Aussies are shameless cheats. Everybody knows this.
7 Aug 2009, 13:39 pm
Dunning
Baxter
Dyson
Young
Sherperdson
Holmes
Rodzilla
Henderson
Kepu
All the above have fronted up the international scrums in the last 6-7yrs or so and all have done the same thing…collapse collapse collapse.Milk penalties,complain at every hit,hint of hesitation at the scrum area etc.
Only prop who has broken that mould is Robinson.Decent scrummager
The rest are RUBBISh and CHEATS..Foley coaches them that way,Connoly before him.
7 Aug 2009, 14:21 pm
10 mshiniwami:
do you rememer how Dunning was eating alive by Sheridan in the 2007 RWC?
7 Aug 2009, 14:38 pm
#9 Twig: Yeh everybody hates those scoundrels from across the Tasmin
7 Aug 2009, 14:39 pm
Quite honestly, the Boks being strong srumagers is just a myth. Only in the first test against the Lions did their scrum dominate. After that it was all the Lions. And did you see how the AB scrum dominated the Bok scrum in both tests, especially the second one. The Boks are relying on past glories (pre 1992) concerning their supposedly strong scrum. Since then, they have not dominated the stronger srumming nations.
Where the Bok forwards are strong, is in the forward contacts (other than the scrums). They are also strong in the mauls and lineouts, but I’m afraid srumming is NOT one of their strengths. But myths can so easily become folklore!
7 Aug 2009, 14:55 pm
#13 Ian:
What are you smoking???
That Welsh ref last weekend couldn’t read a scrum from a ballet lesson. The All Black props broke their bind on almost every scrum and didn’t get penalised once. The only one that was a fair contest was when Steyn scored his try.
7 Aug 2009, 14:57 pm
#13 Ian:
True,SA hasnt had a dominant scrum in a LONG time.Even with Nick Mallett 17 win team,the tight fwd were strong and mobile but not collossal in theset pieces especially not scrum time.Frontrow of Kempson/Dalton/Garvey was hardly dominant but effective in the allround strategy adopted by mallett and Boks at the time.
Since then we have had the Visagie/CJ/BJ/Bands/Buizedenhout paraded around as scrum guru’s/saviour when they were inconsistent.Dominant mainly in local competitions and S12/S14..But test level?nah…. Not even close
7 Aug 2009, 14:58 pm
But insaying that,the Wallaby scrum is RUBBISH..
Since Richard Harry retired theyve struggled to even achieve parity
7 Aug 2009, 14:59 pm
Richard Harry and Patricio Noriega..retired from Wallabies…Rubbish followed.Still there 2day
7 Aug 2009, 15:08 pm
Yes the Aussie are still paying the price from tactics a few years ago when their scrum was really weak. It was then a tactic to collapse the 1st and/or 2nd engage. On the next engage Gregan would put the ball in very quickly to catch the opposition off guard. Stats have shown many times that scrum collapse/reset are more in Aussies games than in other games.
But they are better these days. And yes SA does not have a strong scrum. Haven’t had one for several years.
7 Aug 2009, 15:13 pm
#13 Ian: Yes afarid I agree, in the tight-loose the Boks will dominate and until Brussow came along we were lucky to get parity in the loose phases.
Interesting that the Bok defence that Jake instilled was probably partly borne out of ball starvation with his no out-and-out fetcher policy ? What do you think ?
I think the Boks are a better balanced side today but before we congratulate the Management remember it was only the Danie Russow injury that introduced Brussow in 2nd Test after delivering the goods in the 1st and being dropped for 2nd… and he wasnt in the origional group let alone match 22 for the Lions !!
So who can take credit for recognizing this talent not PdV, GG and DM !! ie Lets sort out Bok forward problems before laughing over the fence at OZ.
7 Aug 2009, 16:35 pm
Usual pre-match whinging from the Aussies. Deans is a New Zealander, I expect better from him.
7 Aug 2009, 18:17 pm
Sorry Robbie. No way. Baxter is a master collapser. The best ever. Good to see him pinged.
Rolland also did well to call the late hit and slightly behind the line bind the All Black’s used against Aussies.
This is dangerous stuff and rightly penalized.
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