How England’s World Cup was derailed – by the man who did it
⮞defeat in the 2019 final in Yokohama left many front-row scars on Eddie Jones’ side. Tendai ‘Beast’ Mtawarira recalls the demolition job on that day
England were scrummaging really well but when you look at our games in the pool stages leading into that final, we made sure we tried to get as many penalties up front despite how good the other pack was. I was preparing for Kyle Sinckler. I could see his bind was not the strongest. I could see that he liked to pre-engage a lot, so I did a lot of work on countering that and making sure I did not give him what he wanted. Frans Malherbe on the other side was looking at Mako [Vunipola] and saw he had a weak bind. We identified certain aspects of the English scrum that we wanted to exploit.
2min: Sinckler is knocked out in a tackle and is replaced by Dan Cole. At 32 and winning his 98th Test cap, Cole was vastly experienced but had started only the pool stage victory against the United States. Mtawarira
When Dan came on, I knew he was not fully match fit. I just thought to myself, “I am going to go for him at every single scrum”. When Dan scrummages on his own terms he is unbelievable. But when you put him under pressure, he tries to take the scrum down and I never allowed him to do that. I just cranked on the pressure because of my bind. My coach used to call my left arm the titanium arm because I would not let my opponent go down. My bind was a huge part of my success.
3min, South Africa feed. After the initial hit, South Africa drive forward and win the penalty.
Scrum No 1
Mtawarira The first scrum is huge. It is a major point of focus because you want the referee to get the right picture from your team because that is probably going to last for the entire game. We focused on that scrum a lot, we thought about it and visualised it and when I got to it I was ready. We got the perfect engage, got into a nice space and good strong body position. When the ball came in we just cranked on the pressure. The back five brought the pressure and I just kept pumping my legs and we got forward and dominated. I don’t think the English pack were expecting that. They thought we would engage and then it was going to be dead still with the ball coming in and out. We just kept on going and Dan popped up.
‘I wanted to attack every scrum. It was the World Cup final and my last game in a Boks shirt’
7min Scrum No 2 England feed, South Africa win the initial engagement and although Billy Vunipola gets the ball out, England concede a penalty at the subsequent breakdown.
Mtawarira My whole thing was not letting Dan get comfortable. I attacked from the bind, not from the hit. When I bound, I made sure my arm was so strong he could not push me to create space for himself. I made him feel uncomfortable from the bind phase and then when we engaged I got into the space quicker than him. That’s why you could see he was cranking on, trying to collapse it. When a tighthead is under pressure, he wants to take it down because he wants a reset or wants the ball to be played. I did not allow him to do that.
13min, Scrum No 3 South Africa feed, both front rows go down and referee Jerome Garces plays on
I don’t think people understand how tiring scrummaging can be. It takes a lot of energy to do it, especially when you have to run and tackle but I was prepared to give everything and I wanted to attack every scrum. It was the World Cup final and my last game in a Springbok shirt and I told myself, “I am going to give it everything”. When the scrum goes well for you, it gives you a lot of confidence in other facets of the game in the way you carry the ball and the way you tackle. You just approach everything with confidence.
16min, South Africa feed, Mako Vunipola slips his bind and the England scrum goes down, South Africa penalty. Mtawarira
Scrum No 4
We got a very strong hit. Mako got penalised because of his bind. We came with such a quick hit and England could not live with it. They got a reset but Mako took it down again and then, the second one, we got a penalty.
23min, Scrum No 5 South Africa feed on the 22, England scrum starts to turn before being driven backwards, with Mtawarira getting under Cole. Handre Pollard kicks the resulting penalty to give South Africa a 6-3 lead. Mtawarira This is where I got Dan to pop up. It is always a great feeling as a loosehead when you pop the tighthead up and give them some air miles. I was very proud of that. Malcolm [Marx, the hooker] was on by this point and he was super keen to get involved. He just kept Dan out of the hole with his shoulder and he just popped. I kept on scrummaging and going forward. That was a proud moment. Really proud.
40min, Scrum No 6 South Africa feed, and just before half-time the Springboks win the initial engagement and march forward until Cole collapses.
Mtawarira The scrum is a collective effort and it makes an incredible difference when you have guys
behind you pushing as hard as they can. I think that’s what front rows dream of: having these big, heavy guys behind you who buy into using the scrum as a weapon. We never had any doubt that the guys behind us were not pushing with everything they had, every ounce of strength. From Duane [Vermuelen] to Siya [Kolisi] to Pieter-steph
[du Toit] to Eben [Etzebeth] and Lood [de Jager], you knew those guys wanted the scrum penalty as much as we did. That’s what made us super successful at that World Cup.
Second half
43 min: Shortly after the restart, Mtawarira is replaced, along with starting tighthead Frans Malherbe, for “bomb squad” members Steven Kitshoff and Vincent Koch. South Africa continue to dominate and win two penalties for England wheeling the scrum,
Mtawarira I actually think in one or two of the scrums we should have been penalised. We laid such a great platform and got into the referee’s head. When it came to the 50-50 calls he gave them to us. You look at the scrum when Steven may have dropped his bind and Joe Marler was on and he is a much stronger scrummager than Mako. He was not making it easy for Vincent to go forward. But because of the ascendancy we had built in the first half it gave the referee the perception that England must be doing something wrong and he gave us the penalty. That’s why that first scrum is so important.
Tendai Mtawarira was speaking on behalf of Amazon Prime Video for its coverage of the Autumn Nations Series. To watch the series costs £7.99 a month, while for new members there is a free 30-day trial.