Rugby: Wallabies dismiss 'cheat' barb

Springboks coach Peter de Villiers says the Wallabies deliberately use negative tactics at scrum time. Photo / Getty Images

The Wallabies are bemused at being labelled scrum cheats but have vowed not to let Springboks coach Peter de Villiers' needling distract them ahead of Sunday's Tri-Nations test.

De Villiers has refused to back down from his inflammatory claim that the Wallabies prefer to deliberately collapse scrums than lose them, applying heat on the referee to decide which team was at fault and possibly milking a penalty.

Instead the outspoken coach expanded on it at his team announcement for the Newlands clash.

"It's a mindset that the Wallabies will rather give a penalty than let you have the upper hand on the scrums," de Villiers said.

"They'll go for that 50-50 option where, if there's a grey area, sometimes they get it right and the penalty goes their way. It's a great tactic to do. But then eight people have to work together as one, and if you can get that right, it's brilliance."

De Villiers' remarks are no doubt intended to draw the attention of Irish referee Alain Rolland and once again place the spotlight on the Australian scrum, which is still perceived as a weakness in many quarters despite significant advances in recent seasons.

Wallabies prop Benn Robinson, fast developing into one of the world's best looseheads, was bemused by de Villiers' claim, insisting the Australians had no reason to want to collapse a scrum.

"Definitely not. I don't understand why you would want to bring down a scrum," Robinson said.

"I don't want to pack too many scrums or I don't want to go overboard. I enjoy scrummaging but, you know, we don't go out there to pull down scrums. There's no issue for us whatsoever."

Robinson said he quite enjoyed being underestimated.

"There's your critics out there, but you're always going to have them. We're confident in our abilities and confident about what we can do.

"It's the Springboks at Newlands and that's going to be a big test for us. The whole front row is pretty excited about it and it showed in training today and in just how we've gone about things the past few weeks."

Robinson was referring to the added tension in the camp since last month's series-opening loss to New Zealand, with Wallabies forwards having engaged in a series of training dust-ups.

"But it's good to see that you train as you play. When you see training get to a level when players are going really hard, it really tests you as a player ... especially before such a big game like this weekend."

With South African referee Craig Joubert repeatedly penalising Australian tighthead prop Al Baxter in Auckland for collapsing scrums, Wallabies lock Nathan Sharpe said de Villiers' claims made no sense.

"Certainly giving away penalties as we did in Auckland is not going to help anyone's cause," Sharpe said.

"I don't think any team in the world would go out with those type of tactics because it is just too hit and miss. The referee can see it anyway they want.

"Discipline against these guys is paramount."

- AAP