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Lizo Gqoboka and Trevor Nyakane had a fair amount of convincing to do when they were thrust at the front of the Bulls' scrum at the start of the season.
Not everyone in the kraal believed they should be the go-to prop combination as the Bulls embarked on a new Super Rugby campaign.
"We had a lot of players at the start of the season," said Bulls scrum coach, Daan Human, about the number of props vying for a starting position.
"Not a lot of people were convinced that we should start with them and that they would start right through the competition. That was unbelievable. I believed in what I was doing and I believed in the guys. The secret really is to get the bloke to believe in himself," said Human.
Form and durability
Remarkably Gqoboka and Nyakane operated in concert in the starting lineup in all 16 matches the Bulls played this season.
Naturally that kind of burgeoning form and durability lifted them in the national estimation and though they are not Rassie Erasmus's first-choice combination, they have certainly significantly increased his options.
Apart from Gqoboka and Nyakane, Steven Kitshoff, Tendai Mtawarira, Frans Malherbe, Vincent Koch, Thomas du Toit and Coenie Oosthuizen provide Erasmus with a ton of options.
The preponderance of propping options in the Springbok camp didn't arrive by accident.
At the start of the season Human's move from the Cheetahs to the Bulls meant Gqoboka and Nyakane had to come to grips with a scrumming template with a primary focus on harnessing the collective within the law.
"I coach a system. I don't necessarily coach an individual," explained Human, who started somewhat on the back foot. He didn't have the benefit of a pre-season with the Bulls.
"The guys looked at me with eyes wide open before our first scrum against the Stormers at the start of the season," he recalled.
"We won that game 40-3. The Tuesday before we must have had 23 live scrums. I told them I was preparing them for a worst- case scenario. When it comes to scrums you have to be as humble as possible."
The fact that Gqoboka and Nyakane had racked up so much game time, Human explained, meant that they needed to be managed carefully.
"I think they are the only props in the competition that started in all the league matches as well as the quarterfinals. If you have 15 scrums in a game and you've played for 65 minutes then you have to handle that player carefully.
"At the same time, you can't lose sight of the fact that you have to put in the work. I told them 'gents, we can't talk this thing right. We work it right'."
Apart from instilling confidence, Human had to get technical.
Much of the Human coaching doctrine doesn't so much focus on the complete and utter annihilation of the opposing pack, as keeping them in the referee's cross-hairs.
"There are technical elements that they didn't really focus on," said Human, a former Bok loosehead.
Both made progress in the scrum. I have a real appreciation for them. They are top people to work with. They are the two most pleasant people I've met in a long time.
— Daan Human,Bulls scrum coach
"You really don't want to feed the referee opportunities to penalise you. We tried to eliminate that. I had one of the best referees in SA come help us out. I would recommend that to any team. You have to adapt to the referee. You as a scrum coach have to understand what they are seeing.
"Some referees have more experience than others. There are your focus points like the setup, a proper bind, the post hit and then keeping a straight back. I don't believe in using shoulders. Keep it straight and honest. Just don't get penalised," Human said of his law-abiding ways.
"At the end of the day it is not about tricks. I changed two technical things in the case of Trevor. He learned and kept at it. He scrummed well for the Boks last week and I'm proud of that.
"Both made progress in the scrum. I have a real appreciation for them. They are top people to work with. They are the two most pleasant people I've met in a long time."
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