Former Bok prop Redelinghuys: ‘It’s a tough job to ref a scrum’

The Lions will be preparing for a typically tough scrum battle when they face the Stormers in their United Rugby Championship clash in Joburg on Saturday.

However, they will also have to be prepared for the referee’s interpretation of the scrum, after some strange calls were made against them in the past weekend’s match against the Bulls.

“It is a tough job to ref a scrum, most of the time there are so many things that change in a scrum and so many things to look for.

“So what we try to pick up is what cues certain refs look for and we try to give them good pictures of those cues and also good pictures of what works for us and our system,” explained Lions scrum coach and former Springbok tighthead Julian Redelinghuys on Tuesday.

“So there are a lot of things they have to look for and I do have sympathy for the refs. But we just try to give good pictures, which are stability, control, not to have too much movement, so that’s how we try to prep our guys.

“Hopefully then if you dominate a lot of scrums in a row you will start to get favourable calls and when there is doubt you hope to get the 50/50s.”

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Redelinghuys also highlighted the need to find balance in the Lions pack between more mobile forwards and big and powerful forwards who dominate the set piece, with them trying to build a more complete player.

“You have to have that balance and think what game you want to dominate where. So it is a balance you have to get between a more mobile prop and one that dominates at the set piece,” said Redelinghuys.

“This isn’t just for props, but also works for locks and flankers, so it’s a whole pack thing and it has to go according to your strategy and what you want to achieve in a game.

“We pride ourselves on our set piece and we want to dominate set piece wise, we just need to get those guys that dominate set piece wise to also be athletic, I think that is the easiest way for us.”