AUSTRALIA

Aussie scrum accused of cheating

Tuesday 22nd July 2008

Under the spotlight: The Wallaby scrum

New Zealand assistant coach Steve Hansen and former All Blacks prop John Drake have accused the Wallabies of cheating at scrum time against South Africa in Perth.

Hansen intimated that Australia's scrum-half Luke Burgess spun the ball into the scrum to ensure quick ball for the Wallaby backs against the Springboks in their Tri-Nations win on Saturday.

The All Blacks detected the number nine rolling the ball in so it shoots quickly through their front and second rows directly to the feet of number eight Wycliff Palu.

"They're clever with the way they do things, you've only got to look at the way the half-back puts the ball in," Hansen told reporters.

"They've adapted their scrum to suit the way they play. They don't keep the ball in the scrum for a very long time."

Hansen denied that Burgess didn't put the ball in straight, but was cleverly bringing the issue into the public domain, possibly to alert referee Craig Joubert - who'll be officiating Saturday's Bledisloe Cup and Tri-Nations match - to the matter.

"I'm suggesting you want to look at how he puts it in. How he holds the ball before he puts it in. It doesn't matter what I think, it matters what the referee thinks," said Hansen.

Scrum accusations dominated the lead-up to the All Blacks second Tri-Nations Test against South Africa in Dunedin on July 12, when prop Tony Woodcock was fingered for illegal binding by the visitors.

This time the New Zealand camp are the prosecution ahead of the Bledisloe Cup opener in Sydney on Saturday, taking aim at a Wallabies scrum that has been their weak point in recent years.

Drake was more scathing in his assessment of the scrum.

"I can't believe they got away with what they did at scrum time with their technique of entering," Drake told ABC Radio in Australia.

"The biggest thing I probably got out of the Test is the way that they probably cheated at scrum time.

"They pack very high, similar to what the Crusaders and the All Blacks did about three years ago," he said.

"When they say crouch, they're still high so the other team has to try and come up to them.

"It kind of puts them off, and then the Australians just dive straight down. I was pretty annoyed with that."

The only player to join the debate so far has been All Blacks hooker Andrew Hore, who was more diplomatic in his assessment. He believes the Aussie scrum is no longer a weakness, as has been perceived over the last few years.

"Aussie have had a bit of a hard time in the scrums in the last few years but it definitely looked like they've got it together and they fronted up pretty well against what we know is a very good Springbok pack," said Hore.

"Everyone's probably gone over there to target their forward pack and they seem to have worked things out well."