Tuesday, 7th August 2007 at 11:26 am

Springbok front row a thing of beauty

Phil Kearns, the Wallaby hooker turned commentator, is a regular champion of the aesthetic wonder of the scrum; it’s a cause that attracts limited support, the allure of the front row being slim at best. Powerful as rolling eight-man thrust may be, and celebrate it as we do (when it’s our team going forward), actually being part of it - and particularly the front row - is not something many of us dream of.

And in support of that, a shot from Springbok World Cup training, courtesy of the eagle-eyed lensmen at Gallo, that reaffirms just why Feverpitcher is quite happy to stay well clear of the front row. The size of the men in question is only part of it (and BJ Botha, John Smit and Os du Randt do make for a hefty combination); what’s particularly disconcerting about this shot, is the hands that snake through from the second row. Call us prudish, but we’re just not taken with the whole thing; we’ll back the scrum to the hilt down at Feverpitcher, but we’re not going anywhere near it ourselves.