Bok scrum coach says half-time tongue-lashing turned things around against Scotland

The Boks headed into the break of their opening Rugby World Cup clash against the Scots with only a narrow 6-3 half-time lead, but it was the two penalties they gave away at scrum time late in the first half that really rubbed Human the wrong way.

Whatever he said worked wonders, because the Boks' scrum turned totally dominant in the second half, even as two quickfire tries created some daylight on the scoreboard.

"Just after half-time, the momentum swung towards us," Human said. "We never want to give away a penalty [at any scrum] and that half-time talk in the dressing room was very important.

"I can't repeat what I said in there [dressing room].

"We all know what we are capable of doing, but we must work at it. We should not think it will just happen by itself. The moment we start thinking like that, it will be time for me to move on."

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Human reckons the Boks only played to about 65 percent of their capacity in Marseille and he was not pleased to see them give away penalties in the set-piece.

"We can definitely improve," he said.

Not that it was all negative. Asked about the two sets of front-rowers the Boks currently employ, Human had high praise for all six men and was quick to point out what a luxury it was to bring on a trio like Trevor Nyakane, Bongi Mbonambi and Ox Nche to replace a starting front row of Frans Malherbe, Malcolm Marx and Steven Kitshoff.

"It is one of the greatest front rows in my opinion," Human said of the replacement trio. "The reasons I will share with you one day when I know you better," he quipped. "It is awesome to be able to put them on.

"We are very happy with the way we scrummed in the second half. However, there is still a lot of improvement and we must do some serious introspection.

"There is a lot of stuff we can rectify within our own systems."

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