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) him, who would call "Have it down". The early rules did not draw a clear distinction between players in or out of a scrum, and did not require players in the scrum to bind. The early rules of rugby, even after re-codification as "Laws of the Rugby Union", said the object of players in the scrum was to kick the ball towards their opponents' goal line. This provision remained in the laws for approximately 20 years after practice had changed in the late 19th century. For a long time players did not have specific positions within a scrum. They adopted