Springbok scrum coach Daan Human has pushed back firmly against New Zealand coach Dave Rennie's accusation that the Bok pack walked around in the second Test in Cape Town, insisting his methods have never deviated from straight-forward, legal dominance.
Rennie's complaint carries a counter-narrative: that the All Black front row edged across before engagement, forcing the Boks to shift — a version Human pointedly left on the table while declining to relitigate the specifics.
"Walking around, I can promise you one thing, I've never coached that because we want to actually go forward," Human said at Tuesday's press conference. "I'm a farmer; I'm just a normal, straight guy so I can't cheat or walk around. We never work like that, I never coach that."
He extended that defence across his six years in the role. "If you say we're walking around then we've been walking around for the past six years, ever since I've been part of Springbok rugby."
Human confirmed the focus heading into Saturday's decider at Soccer City is precision rather than any tactical adjustment. "We will work even harder to be precise in what we're doing … it must be legal, straight-forward dominance."
Georgian referee Nika Amashukeli takes charge of the third Test, and Human gave no indication of anxiety on that front, having already praised second Test referee Angus Gardner for his consistency. "We need to adapt to the way he wants to do it and how he sees it. If he sees something in the game which is not right, he will tell us, 'listen, fix that', and we'll try to do it."
On the brake foot rule, Human was candid about its mixed results. "They brought it in to basically take away a lot of the pressure on the necks of the front row … but if it's helping I'm not too sure because I still see some heads on shoulders." He took the same measured line on the credible feed: happy for it to be applied equally to both packs.
Lock Ruan Nortje, a key figure in the Boks' lineout dominance in Cape Town after New Zealand held the edge in Pretoria, said the emphasis this week is on maintaining that ascendancy. "It's all about sticking to our processes, working hard during the week … we put in place plans where we think we can put them under pressure and I'm sure they'll have their plans for this weekend."