History of the South Africa national rugby union team on to criticise New Zealand referee Bryce Lawrence for "one-sided" refereeing, claiming that Australian openside David Pocock was allowed to "reduce the breakdown to a farce". Lawrence was dropped from the nine-man elite panel in 2012. Following the World Cup exit, several stalwarts of the 2007 World Cup-winning side and the 2011 squad went on to announce retirements or moves abroad. This included captain John Smit, influential lock pairing Victor Matfield and Bakkies Botha, and scrum-half Fourie du Preez. History of the South Africa national rugby union team The History of the South Africa national rugby union team dates back
Scrum (rugby) the scrum. The scrum-half (7) (also known as the halfback) of the team that did not commit the forward pass, knock-on or cause the ball to go out of play over the touch line puts the ball into the scrum through the tunnel formed by the front rows of each set of forwards meeting. When the ball bursts or the referee interferes with the ball, the team that had possession at the time is the one to put the ball into the scrum. Both teams may attempt to secure the ball while it is in the scrum by "hooking" for