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) with a strategy where their pack would push at the same time the hooker would strike for the ball. This not only meant they got the hooked ball, but also the opposition had to retreat to stay onside. Eventually, other teams found out what the All Blacks were doing and copied them. Referees stopped enforcing the straight feed into the scrum, and as a result scrum-halves started feeding the ball further on their side of the scrum. Opposing hookers gave up trying to hook for the ball and instead focused on adding power to the pack's drive. This turned the