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Welsh scrum a factor

Adnaan Mohamed

Cardiff - Springbok tighthead prop Jannie du Plessis says after one solid performance in the scrums against Ireland, a player can often be written up in the media only to be brought down to earth when he gets hammered in his next Test match.

Du Plessis believes Wales showed enough last week against Australia to prove that they have the ability to cause havoc in the scrums.

With Du Plessis at tighthead, his brother Bismarck at hooker and Beast Mtawarira at loosehead, the Boks gave the Irish a scrumming lesson at the Aviva stadium last Saturday, but Du Plessis expects Wales to provide a  much stronger challenge in the front row at the Millennium stadium on Saturday.

“They (Wales) scrummed the Aussies to pieces last week. I think they can be very happy with their performance in the scrums. They were very tight up front. As a combination they’ve played a lot of Tests together. All of them are quality players, so it’s’ going to be a good test for us.

“The Aussies have actually scrummed very well this whole season. We played against them a few times and they stood up well against us. I think we should take our hats off for the Welsh. They got rewarded for scrumming well. The Aussies conceded penalties for breaking up early. I’m sure the Aussie team knew they were under pressure and I think the Welsh got just reward for a very good performance in the set pieces.

“I think Wales were unlucky to lose the Test against the Wallabies. They just gave away silly tries. The Wallabies second try was completely against the run of play. Wales can feel particularly disappointed, because they had a good opportunity to win the game. Their lineouts functioned very well and they also kept the ball very well.  I think Wales are always a very tough team to play against. They have the ability to play total rugby and it’s going to be very difficult to beat them,” Du Plessis warned.
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