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'The referee was like are you sure?': Damian Willemse relives scrum call off mark
By Josh Raisey
Of all the decisions made at the World Cup this year, none was as bold as Damian Willemse’s choice to call a scrum off a mark in the quarter-final against France.
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This was so bold that it was actually the first time that it happened at a World Cup, according to Jean de Villiers, and it came in one of the most high-pressure games, and moments, of the tournament, not only against the tournament hosts and one of the favourites, but also against a much-vaunted scrum.
Now over a month on from the Springboks lifting the Webb Ellis Cup, moments like Willemse’s scrum call are starting to become embedded in South African rugby folklore.
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The 25-year-old relived the moment on RugbyPass’ ‘Boks Office’ recently at the HSBC SVNS Cape Town, shedding some light on the decision, and how it was a plan conjured by the South African coaching staff, which is not out of character at all from Rassie Erasmus.
“That was a strategic plan by the coaching staff,” the double World Cup winner said to de Villiers, Bryan Habana and Hanyani Shimange.
“The thing that made it work was the flow of the game, the time of the game, no one was expecting it. Even the forwards didn’t know when we were going to call it. We said we’re going to have a time in the game where our forwards were still fresh, when we had the upper hand or when we needed a big play. So yeah, obviously the play was called at the right time and then obviously the forwards did their thing and got us the penalty.
The fullback then went on to explain what was going through his mind the exact moment he called for the scrum, bearing in mind how disastrous the result could have been in the context of the match, and tournament had they not won a penalty at the scrum.
Mark-to-scrum?
Bold but brilliant from Damian Willemse 👏#RWC2023 | #FRAvRSA pic.twitter.com/23B0DiUfnA
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He said: “I think they had a scrum and then they played the ball to Louis Bielle-Biarrey and caught the ball and just whacked it. Then the ball was coming and I saw it and I was like ‘now, now, now!’ And when I caught the ball, I was like ‘just do it!’ Then I was like ‘is this the right time? Am I making a mistake here by calling it now?’ But as I said, I could also feel the flow of the game there and it was on my mind and we’d been training it all week. As I said, it had been a strategic plan from the coaches.
“When I caught the ball and I put it down and then I was looking at the forwards, I saw Frans [Malherbe] and everyone jogging back, and then I called the scrum and then the ref was nodding at me and was like ‘are you sure?’ I said ‘yeah’, called the scrum, walked and I was like ‘OK, please dear God, let this get a result here.”
Red & White 👊
Something that crossed my mind at the time and I still wonder about is that when you call a mark, which clearly he did, it is immediately assumed to be a free kick, ie without intervention he could have tapped and run/kicked. However when a free kick is awarded from a mark or otherwise by the ref, it has to be taken from hand. My understanding is that players can charge down the free-kicker as soon as he advances to kick and also, to my understanding, they can charge down and claim the ball once it is placed on the ground - correct me if I'm wrong. So thinking this, I found it odd/risky that he placed the ball down the jogged away with his back turned before insisting on the scrum with the self-fist-bump. Could a fast advancing Frenchman (however unlikely) have claimed the placed-down ball and scored in the brief interim between Willemse putting it down and calling from the scrum?
Another LOTTO winner declaring himself a genius.
Utterly stupendously brilliant, especially in evenly matched RWC knockout game. Coaches and team were playing as one. One of those staggering moments when the idea was so good, you wish it was yours. This RWC had some magnificent moments, e.g. PORTUGAL v Fiji, this move by Damian Willemse was peach.