Hanyani Shimange: Former Springboks Star Sends Warning to All Blacks Ahead of Baltimore Test

• Former Springbok hooker Hanyani Shimange named the one scrum that could rival South Africa's dominant set-piece
• Schalk Burger weighed in on how referee decisions affect whether the Boks' scrum advantage is actually rewarded
• The scrum has become a major talking point in the Rugby's Greatest Rivalry series after the Boks' win over the All Blacks

Former Springbok hooker Hanyani Shimange has declared that no Test nation's scrum can match South Africa's, though he offered a tongue-in-cheek exception: the Bok reserves.

The comments came during an appearance on The Boks Unpacked X The Verdict podcast, where former Springbok centre Jean de Villiers asked Shimange whether any pack in world rugby was capable of competing with the Springbok set-piece. "The reserve Bok one," Shimange quipped, before adding: "I don't see a pack competing, to be honest."

The world champions reinforced that reputation last Saturday, earning four scrum penalties and a penalty try during their 29-24 victory over the All Blacks at FNB Stadium in Johannesburg.

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**Shimange Rates Ireland and Scotland, Dismisses France**

Shimange acknowledged that a small number of nations have made strides at the set-piece. "I mean, I've seen that Ireland come up with good tricks; Scotland are actually quite good; they actually want to scrum because Peter de Villiers [Scotland's scrum coach] understands it," he said. "France, not really; we've scrummed them. Ireland, we saw what happened in Dublin. There isn't one; we just got a super scrum."

The scrum has emerged as a central debate throughout the ongoing Rugby's Greatest Rivalry series, with All Blacks head coach Dave Rennie repeatedly claiming the Boks "walk around" at the set-piece and raising the matter with World Rugby.

**Burger Points to Referees as the Critical Variable**

Fellow former Springbok Schalk Burger argued that the Boks' ability to convert scrum dominance into points depends largely on how officials manage the contest. "The contest has got to happen," Burger said. "So, you've got to give credit to the officials to actually let the contest happen [at FNB Stadium], and I don't think it can happen with any set of referees anyway."

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Burger contrasted Georgian referee Nika Amashukeli's approach at FNB Stadium with that of Australian Angus Gardner, who officiated the second Test in Cape Town. "Maybe the French, they really appreciate the set-piece battle, but we'll get a referee where most of the time, you will be asked to play it away," he said. "Then you won't get rewarded for dominance, like the Cape Town Test match. We didn't really get rewarded for the amount of dominance we had."

Source: Briefly News