Forwards coach impressed with growth in Boks after 2016

FOR someone who had just declared the door shut on the prickly matter of 2016, Springbok forwards coach Matt Proudfoot did a pretty good job rolling out the welcome mat.

‘About last year...’ is the least acknowledged question in the Bok ranks, but after a bit of prodding Proudfoot wade in yesterday. “That door is closed,” he said. “I’d say a lot of good came out of last year in the sense that no lesson is a bad lesson. Last year’s lessons were priceless and we have taken those lessons on board,” said Proudfoot yesterday, still basking in the afterglow of South Africa’s series clinching win over France in Durban.

“If we think about where we are now we’ve created an environment where players can grow and thrive.”

The Springboks and their crimes of 2016 have been indivisible in the buildup to this series. Naturally, scapegoats find it hard to shake crosshairs and Proudfoot felt duty-bound to step into the breach for Tendai Mtawarira who had come under fire in the buildup to the series. Mtawarira, to his credit, responded with a fired up, near frenzied performance in Durban.

“To say a guy with 90 caps is past it is crazy, in my opinion,” opined Proudfoot. “Coenie (Oosthuizen) is probably our next most experienced front rower. “He (Mtawarira) has been incredible. If you talk to any of the props around the squad (they’ll tell you) he’s been great.”

Proudfoot also gushed about the contributions of props Thomas du Toit, Ox Nché and Wilco Louw.

“The guys have been contributing all the way through. In our first week in Joburg you had Coenie and Ruan (Dreyer) talking about binding positions.

“That stems from an appetite for the collective to be successful.”

In the buildup to Saturday’s third Test the hosts will need no reminding that the last time France played at Ellis Park they outscrummed the Boks, who went down 23-32.

Proudfoot will have none of it this weekend. “The integrity and stability of our setpiece is paramount.”