Springboks scrum coach Daan Human has firmly rejected Dave Rennie's claim that South Africa are illegally walking around at scrum time, insisting the accusation runs counter to everything he has coached over his six years with the national side.
"We always try 100 per cent to do it by the book, that's the way we have been brought up. I can't ever cheat or tell the players to walk around – we never work like that," Human told reporters ahead of Saturday's third Test in Johannesburg.
Rennie raised the walking allegation after the second Test in Cape Town, where South Africa were noticeably less dominant at scrum time than they had been during the opening hour at Ellis Park. Rassie Erasmus had already pushed back on the claim, and Human used his media briefing to add weight to that rebuttal while pledging continued improvement.
"If you say we walk around, then we've been walking around for the past six years ever since I've been part of Springbok rugby. Sometimes one thing causes another thing to happen, and it might happen. We are not perfect but we're striving to be perfect."
Human also praised second Test referee Angus Gardner for consistency, rejecting any suggestion of bias. "What he called for us, he called for them. It was the same story." Attention now turns to Nika Amashukeli, who takes charge of the decider, and Human indicated South Africa will adapt quickly to the Georgian's interpretations. "If he tells us to fix something we'll fix it... I genuinely don't think Angus refereed differently to how he normally does."
Human's closing message on the legality question was unequivocal: "We always aim for legal, straightforward dominance. I can promise you, one thing I've never coached walking around because it's not ideal for us."