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 union) the "first up, first down" down method, with the first players to a scrum packing down in the front row and the rest of the forwards filling the remaining positions. Although the 1905 All Blacks are often credited with introducing specialised scrum positions, the 1888-1889 New Zealand Native football team had in fact practised this. As well, Thomas Ellison, one of the Natives, invented the 2-3-2 scrum formation. This seven man scrum was very popular in New Zealand until being outlawed in 1932. The extra man available because he was not in the scrum was called a "wing forward" and