HOW COLE & CO WERE DOMINATED UP FRONT
DESPITE the fact that England were 5lbs per man heavier than South Africa they were taken to the cleaners by Tendai ‘Beast’ Mtawarira and Co in Yokohama in the World Cup final. WILL KELLEHER analyses where they went wrong.
FIRST HALF 3MINS — SINCKLER GOES OFF
England’s premier tight-head is knocked out when tackling Makazole Mapimpi with Maro Itoje, meaning Dan Cole has to play 77 minutes with no back-up. 4 MINS — COLE’S BAD START
Cole loses his first scrum as the Boks spin England’s pack around. South Africa do not take it, though, opting to play the advantage. 17MINS — PENALTY ONE
Another scrum collapses and referee Jerome Garces reckons it is England’s fault. 24MINS — PENALTY TWO
Cole is forced to stand up in the scrum, such is the pressure coming on to him from the Beast. The Boks win the penalty and Handre Pollard kicks it for 6-3. 40MINS — PENALTY THREE
The Beast destroys Cole yet again at the scrum and now it is no contest up front. Pollard bags the three points to make it 12-6 at half-time. SECOND HALF 44MINS — PENALTY FOUR
In what becomes Mako Vunipola’s final scrum, the new pairing of Steven Kitshoff and Vincent Koch, on for the Beast and Frans Malherbe, eviscerate England again. Pollard kicks 49MINS it and South Africa lead 15-6. — PENALTY FIVE
With Joe Marler now on for Vunipola the scrum pops up yet again. England are penalised for the fourth scrum in a row.
WHAT THEY SAID...
MAKO VUNIPOLA:
It was difficult. We were aware of the threat they posed at the scrum, but hats off to them they took advantage.
We’re disappointed but it happens sometimes and we’ll look at it again tomorrow. It was because of a bit of weight, a bit of technique. There were things we could have done differently. Hindsight is a beautiful thing, but now disappointment is the biggest feeling. There were subtle things they did differently but it was nothing major. We probably sat back a little bit but I can’t put my finger on why. They did a great job of throwing things at us.
JOE MARLER:
It is hard when the pictures have been painted. The referee Jerome Garces decided he was going to referee a scrum this week [laughs]. Which is good to know. It’s very hard to change that perception. It’s quite hard to hide a significant amount of money in your shorts or socks to bung him with… and say [he adds mock French accent]: ‘Bonjour. Ca va? You do me favour, I do you favour?’ It is tough. You’d like to think every scrum is refereed independently from the last but that’s not the reality. As soon as you paint a picture or give a perception early doors that’s always in the back of the referee’s mind. Fair play to their pack, they did a great job.
TENDAI MTAWARIRA:
I wanted to scrum the best I ever have and give my team the energy and inspire the guys. We wanted to get ascendancy from the outset and after winning that first penalty we knew we had to keep working hard. The English have a great pack so they didn’t make it easy for us but we managed to get the ascendancy we wanted.