Bok pundit slams Wallabies’ illegal scrummaging in post-match tirade
Former South Africa prop Robbi Kempson has accused Australia tighthead Taniela Tupou of scrummaging illegally, which led to the decisive penalty in Australia’s victory over the Springboks on Sunday.
Dave Rennie’s Wallabies triumphed over the world champions 28-26 on the Gold Coast in a match where they were able to get the better of the formidable Springbok pack on a number of occasions, which would have surprised many. However, Kempson does not think that they gained their ascendency legally, notably highlighting the scrum in the dying seconds of the match which resulted in a penalty that Quade Cooper converted.
“This is the scrum that won [Australia] the match,” Kempson said on Supersport after the match.
“Look at the angle of [Taniela Tupou’s] back just behind his scrum-half [Nic] White. Look at the angle going straight into the other side, he turns himself right towards the other touchline. That is illegal scrumming, and watch the back row as they are coming around the right hand side, completely legal walking through the gap there. That penalty should go to South Africa, should never have gone towards Australia.
“You would think that yes, Australia got the benefit of having an upper hand against us in the scrum but they did it illegally. Also, their coach, Petrus du Plessis knows a few of our players and Tupou’s done this for a number of years. He was penalised quite heavily for it but now all of a sudden it has come back into his repertoire.
“Reset it, or go short arm one way or short arm the other way. I just think making a vital decision like that towards the end of the game, in a scrum which should have gone our way because of illegal scrumming, it doesn’t make Luke Pearce a bad referee, I think it needs to be cleaned up and explained to referees of just how important scrumming is.”
