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How the rugby world responded to South Africa's ultimate flex against France
By Josh Raisey
South Africa's epic 29-28 World Cup quarter-final win over France on Sunday had a lot going on. From a charged down conversion to a backwards penalty kick, it was a match that seemed to have it all.
But one thing that is rarer than either of those two things is calling a scrum off a mark, so much so that many fans out there were not even aware that it is allowed. Opting for a scrum from a mark is so seldom seen that it would only really take a team like South Africa with all their scrummaging strength to go for it. Not many would expect them to do so in such a high-stakes game against a French pack who are not exactly pushovers.
When the Springboks' fullback Damian Willemse received the ball in his own 22 with a few minutes of the first-half remaining, called for a mark and then called for a scrum, it caught many off guard. But then for the Boks to go on and actually win a penalty from the resulting scrum is one of the greatest signs of a team's confidence in their own ability the game has ever seen, not to mention quite a flex.
Fans, pundits and players took to X as soon as the Boks pulled off this feat, and here are some of the responses:
"Scrum from a mark!? Penalty won! Know your strength and back it. Super from The Boks."
"So Damian called for the mark, then took the option to scrum which resulted in a scrum pen. Talk about flexing your muscle!"
"One big takeaway from last night in particular: the Springboks have kept the faith of scrummaging even when it wasn’t being rewarded. They even called a scrum off a mark last night. And last night, they were rewarded for some brilliant scrummaging. The faith was justified."
"Imagine calling a mark and taking the scrum. The sheer audacity of it."
"Didn’t even know you could call a scrum from a mark. Never seen it and then they demolished the French scrum."
"Winning a scrum penalty after opting for a scrum off a mark is vintage South Africa."
"Calling for a scrum after that mark is pretty cocky. Is there a play coming from this set piece."
"The SA team are incredible. The call for a scrum from the mark is the biggest show of attitude, confidence and dominance I can ever remember seeing."
"Never seen a scrum called from a mark. Unbelievable clarity from a team that knows what they're about and how they want to achieve it."
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Latest Comments
Yep NZ national u85 team is touring there atm I think (or just has).
Go to commentsWhat are they gonna do with the 500k and what does that achieve? They could dump the whole side and pick amateurs and save 10million, but what is that going to achieve?
The problem it feels like to me is I didn't hear what Gatland is going to do in order to win the 6N next year. How is he helping the problem. It just sounds like they're expecting miracles and for Gatland to turn around the national teams results, but what good is that when you're not fixing any of the problems and you'll just be back where you were when Gatland and the old players leave?
I think you are totally wrong in your stance. Wales abosolutely need to spend that 500k by investing in their future, it just doesn't sound like theyre giving Gatland any more resources to do it with. They're not using that 500k very well.
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