Bissie's 'old tricks' beat Lions' scrum

 

The Lions famed scrum was decimated by the Sharks pack in the wet weather in Durban as the return of captain Du Plessis seemed to signal a turn around in the Sharks' scrumming effort.

 

Last weekend against the Cheetahs the Sharks scrum suffered, even with two incumbent Springbok props in the front line.

 

However, this time, the Sharks picked up a number of scrum-penalties which were turned into points and were able to turn two strong scrums into tries for Cobus Reinach and Marcell Coetzee.

 

For the opposition coach, it was the return of the Sharks captain that made the difference with his inexperienced front row suffering by being penalised out of the game.

 

"Credit to the Sharks and their scrums," Ackermann said after the game.

 

"I think it was Bismarck [du Plessis] who made the difference there.

 

"He has some old tactics going on there that our youngsters did not know how to deal with, and it is clear that they did well [in the scrums]."

 

While Ackermann was quick to praise the work of the Springbok hooker, it was the Sharks coach Gary Gold who laid praise onto the engine room of the scrum, in particular Sharks debutant Lubabalo Mtyanda.

 

"I thought Giant [Mtyanda] was outstanding today [Saturday], absolutely outstanding," Gold said.

 

"He was a critical factor to why we scrummed as well as we did, he is a big guy, he is deceptively athletic for the size that he is and he works very, very hard at scrum time.

 

We now have a 120 kilogram and a 130 kilogram lock where we are not losing much in terms of mobility and they are scrumming well."

 

Ackermann also believes that the Lions scrum will be under increased pressure this year as teams look to target their famed strength as well as try to figure out their method in scrumming.

 

"We always knew, coming into this season, that our scrums would be under pressure. That is why I didn't want to make a big deal out of it," Ackermann added.

 

"Because we were good in the scrums last year, in Super Rugby and the Currie Cup, the team are always going to prepare extra hard for when they scrum against us.

 

"Anyone will tell you the first year as a player is the easiest – it is the second and third year that are the toughest.

 

"That is when everybody wants to compete against you and they have learnt a bit more about you."

 

The Lions however admit they were not lured into a false sense of security after the Sharks battled against the Cheetahs at scrum time last week.

 

The personnel the Sharks posses in the pack was warning enough that they would be a challenge for coach Ackermann.

 

"We knew the Sharks were going to come at us, Bismarck and Jannie [du Plessis] are not Springboks for nothing and Dale Chadwick I rate highly, and the same with Thomas du Toit." Ackermann said of the Sharks impressive front row options.

 

"They have quality players, they have big locks behind them, and they have strong Springbok loose forwards.

 

"If a guy like Jean Deysel is sitting on the bench then you know you have a great squad."

 

The Lions coach has said that there is work to be done for their set-piece as things will not get any easier from here.

   

"We can't take anything for granted, we have to go back, work hard and fix it because the Stormers have a quality scrum as well and then we go on tour and it does not get any easier," he concluded.