South Africa’s Scrum Dominance: The Evolution of an Eight-Man Machine

South Africa secured victory against England in last year’s Rugby World Cup semi-final, thanks to a crucial late scrum penalty successfully converted by fly-half Handre Pollard. The upcoming Autumn Nations Series match between England and South Africa is scheduled for Saturday, 16 November, with a kick-off at 17:40 GMT at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham. Coverage will be available via live commentary on BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Sounds, and live text commentary on the BBC Sport website and app. The fundamental rugby command is: Crouch, bind, set. The world champions, South Africa, exemplify this process more than any other nation. Over the last five years, their exceptional generation of forwards has cultivated what is widely considered the most formidable and feared scrum in rugby. While the emergence of the renowned ‘Bomb Squad’ prior to the 2019 World Cup was significant, the scrum’s importance to the team extends much further, having been ingrained in their culture for decades. “What South Africa do and we have always believed is that the scrum is an area where you can enforce yourself,” 2007 World Cup winner BJ Botha told BBC Sport. “That is where we are legally allowed to be physical and manhandle players, which will hopefully overflow into other moments on the field. When we scrum, we scrum to dominate.” Paarl Boys’ High School stands as a prominent institution