There are now apparently 60 million Springbok supporters, 60 million rugby coaches and, judging by the latest Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry controversy, about 60 million scrum coaches.
Daan Human has noticed.
“It looks like every second guy is becoming a scrum coach now,” the Springbok scrum guru said this week, with the dry smile of a man who has spent six years teaching eight forwards how to push straight while the rest of the rugby world argues about which direction they are actually going.
Welcome to the scrum wars.
Dave Rennie has accused the Springboks of “walking around” at scrum time, claims the All Blacks coach says he has raised with World Rugby. Rassie Erasmus responded after South Africa’s 33-26 victory in Cape Town with a phrase that required no video analysis:
“We’re not fucking walking around. We’re scrumming through.”
Human, the quieter man behind one of world rugby’s most feared set pieces, delivered his own response with considerably less theatre.
“If you say we’re walking around, then we’ve been walking around for the past six years, ever since I’ve been part of Springbok rugby,” he said.
“I’ve never coached that, because we want to go forward. Walking around is not an ideal for us. We don’t want to do it.”
It is a wonderfully South African answer to a distinctly New Zealand problem.
The Springbok scrum has become so dominant that the argument has moved from the pitch to the press conference, then from the press conference towards World Rugby. The technical debate is complicated enough to require slow-motion video, multiple camera angles and perhaps a forensic accountant.
Daan Human: “Whether we play in Verkeerdevlei or at the FNB Stadium, we know what we have to do” – more here: https://t.co/WzcN65jomX#Springboks #ForeverGreenForeverGold pic.twitter.com/9oXo7L6NdM
— Springboks (@Springboks) September 1, 2026
Human’s philosophy is considerably simpler.
Go forward.
Straight through the middle.
According to the laws.
Show the referee dominance on both sides.
“We try to take it straight through the middle, according to the laws, and show the referee a dominant picture on both sides,” he said.
That “according to the laws” bit matters.
Human said the accusation became personal when suggestions of deliberate illegality landed at his door.
“That’s when I took it to heart, to be honest, because that’s not what we do,” he said.
“We try to take it straight through the middle, according to the laws, and show the referee a dominant picture on both sides.”
There was no retaliation. Human took the pressure himself rather than allowing it to seep into the playing group.
“It’s frustrating for all of us, but it’s part of the pressure I need to handle. I can’t transfer that pressure onto the players, that should never happen.”
That is the difference between coaching a scrum and coaching a narrative.
Rennie’s concerns have ensured every referee, prop and television viewer will now watch the Springbok front row as though someone has hidden a winning lottery ticket inside it.
The irony is delicious.
The Springboks have spent years building a scrum based on repetition, technique, strength and precision. Now their opponents have turned the set piece into a courtroom, with every shoulder movement potentially presented as Exhibit A.
Human seems happy to leave the verdict to the referee.
“We’ve got respect for Angus. I thought he was very consistent in his decision-making on Saturday,” he said after the Cape Town Test.
“We need to trust him. He’s the main man in the middle, and if he sees something that’s not right, he’ll tell us to fix it and we’ll try to do it.”
And then there is the wonderfully Human view of rugby’s scrum obsession.
“The scrum is very important in our team. It’s part of our culture.”
He even joked that he would like to see at least 20 scrums in a match because, as the scrum coach, he has to earn his salary.
There is something almost beautifully absurd about rugby’s oldest battlefield becoming its latest laboratory.
Eight enormous men crouch, bind and collide while coaches, referees, analysts and supporters debate whether they moved a few centimetres sideways before trying to move an opposing mountain backwards.
Meanwhile, two Airlink jets are preparing to fly over FNB Stadium on Saturday.
The aircraft will provide the spectacle.
The scrum will provide the argument.
And Human?
He will be under the bucket hat, somewhere in the shadows, asking his forwards to do something remarkably uncomplicated.
Go straight.
Go forward.
And let everybody else become a scrum coach.
