Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Sprinboks' scrum dominance due to De Villiers' hard work

Updated at 6:24 am on 11 June 2012

The South African loosehead prop Tendai Mtawarira attributed his side's dominant scrummaging against England in the first rugby test, to work during the week with new scrum coach and former France international Pieter de Villiers.

The Springbok scrum dismantled England at the set-piece, helping to set up a 22-17 victory in Durban on Saturday.

England conceded two penalties and three free-kicks at the scrum as South Africa's starting front row of Mtawarira, hooker Bismarck du Plessis and tighthead Jannie du Plessis dominated from the outset.

Mtawarira says they worked hard on their scrum and had some good sessions with Pieter de Villiers, who was a strong scrummager in his time.

De Villiers, who is South African-born but played 69 tests in the French front row, has been putting the Springboks through a routine that has them spending a lot of time crawling on the ground.

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