New Zealand have added giant uncapped prop Saula Ma'u to their squad ahead of their opening Test against the Springboks in Johannesburg this weekend. The 26-year-old Highlanders tighthead, who stands at 6ft 3in and weighs around 140kg (22st), flew in on Monday night to replace loosehead Ollie Norris, who injured his knee in the warm-up clash with the Bulls.
Injury crisis forces reinforcements
Norris becomes the fourth player sent home from the tour, following wing Caleb Clarke, centre Billy Proctor (both shoulder) and hooker George Bell (calf). Head coach Dave Rennie has turned to Ma'u, who has played 58 games for the Super Rugby side and represented the All Blacks XV, but has never won a senior cap.
“Saula Ma’u is already on the plane over here to replace Ollie Norris,” Rennie explained to reporters on Monday. “Obviously it’s essential for us to have enough front row forwards. We’ve got a Test on Saturday, and ideally we’d have two fresh front rows to play in that game, which means we’re not asking the Test guys to back up three days later. He arrives tonight.”
The All Blacks are also monitoring the fitness of full-back Damian McKenzie (ankle), scrum-half Cortez Ratima (knee) and prop Xavier Numia (Achilles).
Springboks respond to time-wasting claims
In the Springboks camp, head coach Rassie Erasmus has hit back at suggestions that his side deliberately waste time, after Rennie raised the issue following New Zealand's 54-0 win over the Sharks in Durban last week. Rennie criticised how long play tends to be delayed during international matches, suggesting there is more to the stoppages than meets the eye.
“If they can decide to put players on the floor, the length of our stoppage, then I think the officials will understand that it's tactical and let us play,” he said. “Also, it's a real trend in world rugby at the moment, every time there's a line-out, sides are on the ball, and there's a big meeting, it takes ages to actually get the game going.”
While Rennie did not explicitly name the Springboks, Erasmus responded directly, questioning whether their recent meetings showed evidence of time-wasting. “Truth is, our last two games against New Zealand in Auckland and in Wellington, people can go and look at those games,” he said. “Were those slow games? We've got 11 languages, which we have to make sure that everybody understands the line-out call. So you can huddle. When the referee gives the mark, then within 30 seconds you must form the line-out. So there's no law that says you can't idle.”
Law interpretation defended
Former Test referee Jaco Peyper, now a technical consultant for the Springboks, added that the squad operate within the 30-second time frame for set pieces set out by World Rugby. “The law is very clear,” he said. “30 seconds from the moment the referee puts his foot down to make a mark, whether it's a scrum or line-out, not from the whistle, from when the foot's put down, there's 30 seconds to form, not get the ball in. We have to adhere to that, and we respect that and we train to that.”
