Ox Nche primed for ‘personal’ scrum battle against the All Blacks

Powerhouse looshead prop Ox Nche is primed and ready for a massive forward battle when the Springboks and All Blacks duke it out in the Rugby Championship at Ellis Park on Saturday (kick-off 5pm).

Nche is one of the most fearsome front rowers in world rugby and is fired up and looking forward to the challenge of taking on the All Blacks scrum in what is an extremely important game in terms of the competition.

Putting in a big performance at the set piece is personal for the burly front ranker and he will be looking to make a big impact on the game.

Personal scrum

“The scrum is an opportunity for me to perform for South Africa, which makes it personal. You always know the first scrum will be a biggie because the props are feeling each other out. I say to myself, ‘You are representing your country, take pride in that’,” explained Nche.

“For me, there is no way the guy opposite me is going to come up with tricks that are better than mine. I will have done my prep on my opponent as well as I can. It is all about who has the most pride.”

Nche will be going head-to-head with Tyrel Lomax, who he faced briefly in the World Cup final when he came on for the Boks in the second half, before the New Zealander was subbed, and he will aim to assert dominance over him from the get go.

“After the first scrum, you think, ‘okay, we have felt each other out’. And you know whether you can scrum him or not. You know who is going to be in for a long day,” said Nche.

“Your opponent might catch you out once or twice, but I always say whoever sings the longest will sing last. As soon as you get the upper hand in the second scrum, you start seeing the doubt in his eyes, that is when you know you have him.

“You have a gut feeling about how it is going, and then you pull out some new tricks to further empower you.”

The haka

Nche is looking forward to facing the haka on Saturday, which he explains gives him a chance to get in the zone and prepare for what is to come on the field.

“It gets you in the moment and you have to decide it is us or them. When the All Blacks are lining up for the haka, it is the time when I think carefully about my job on the field. You respect New Zealand culture but are thinking about your job and how best to do it,” said Nche.

“When they are performing it, you see how proud they are of their country and you think, ‘What are you going to do to show your pride for your country? How are you going to stand up for your country?’ It lifts me.”

Nche is also not worried about the Boks recent poor record against the All Blacks at Ellis Park, admitting they don’t read into past results.

“I don’t think we are too worried about that. The last time we faced them was in the Rugby World Cup final, and we know they’ll come out guns blazing for us, rather than thinking about the past,” said Nche.