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Boks seeking clarity on scrum calls

Tighthead Vincent Koch fell foul of Poite's whistle in the defeat to Argentina at Kings Park on Saturday, with Poite repeatedly pinning him for dropping his bind on Pumas loosehead Marcos Ayerza before being pulled off at half-time.
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De Villiers said that they will make contact with World Rugby referees boss Joel Jutge in order to gain clarity on Poite's interpretations.
 
"It certainly was a frustrating day, and I don't want this to sound like excuses because I hate that, but we certainly want to get back to Romain Poite and get some clarity and some feedback on some of the calls on Saturday.
 
Boks seeking clarity on scrum calls"I have obviously been through those scrums many times by now and some of the calls I don't understand.
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"We will speak to Joel Jutge and Romain Poite about that and get clarity," he said.
 
The Bok scrum coach said that while Koch was penalised heavily, he believes that Ayerza was guilty of scrumming inwards and dropping his bind at times.
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"I actually think that Vincent Koch did quite well. In that first scrum he did very well, and from there it seemed as if Romain had a picture in his mind and it was us on the wrong side, and some calls went against us.
 
"He played against a very good prop Ayerza who is very experienced and plays in the northern hemisphere where scrum manipulation is a fine and dark art and he is very good with that, but if he is always on the right side of the law is debatable and we will take that further, we believe that sometimes he does scrum in and sometimes loses his bind," he said.
 
De Villiers pointed out that it was the first time Koch had come up against a prop who plays in the northern hemisphere, and added that the Stormers tighthead is very keen to show that he has what it takes to compete at Test level.
 
"It was the first time that Vincent played against a northern hemisphere prop, he is used to southern hemisphere rugby and the scrummaging is a bit different.
 
"I think there was some valuable experience gained for Vincent playing against a very experienced campaigner.Boks seeking clarity on scrum calls
 
"Vincent is very keen to have another crack as well and there was some good stuff from him. I thought the guys who came on in the second half really did well as well.
 
Not one of our scrums went to completion, so it is difficult to get a technical note on our scrummaging because there was always a penalty against us or for us," he said.
 
While the likes of Stormers props Steven Kitshoff and Frans Malherbe are fit to play this weekend, De Villiers said that they may give the players who started at Kings Park a chance to 'set the record straight'.
 
"With what happened over the weekend we might again change the strategy a bit and maybe use some of the players again to set the record straight.
 
"So some players might not get a chance but that is the way it goes. Players have to stake their claim and show us that they really deserve to go to the World Cup," he said.
 
By Michael de Vries, in Durban

@smalldbigV

@rugby365com

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