Pieter won't upset the applecart

South Africa's new scrum guru, former French prop Pieter de Villiers, is under no illusion as to the enormity of the task awaiting him - despite the quality of the talent at his disposal.

The South African-born French international, who played in two World Cups and 68 Tests for his adopted country, told this website in an exclusive interview that he would have very limited time to spend working with the national team on his aspect of the set pieces.

For that reason alone he won't "upset the applecart" and that any changes would be introduced gradually.

In an era when analysing the opposition's scrum has become as much part of the game as studying your rivals' attack and defence De Villiers said his input will be part of a much bigger picture to be painted by Springbok head coach Heyneke Meyer.

He admitted that you certainly look at the opposition, try and pick out strong points and weak points.

However, the starting point is to ensure that on your own scrum you "build a proper base" and to not change things every week.

"You want to build a model where all player feel comfortable, where all players feel they can build the best speed, the best explosivity, the best body positions... without changing things around every week," De Villiers told this website.

"Then again, on the opposition scrum you have to look at where potential weaknesses and strong points are in order to maybe go target that.

"Once again there is a very fine line in not upsetting the applecart by trying to change too many things week-in and week-out, rather than building a solid base of different things over a longer-term."

The veteran scrum consultant said aspects such as speed and strong core strength were important when it came to building a powerful scrum.

"Those are the things that lie a bit deeper under the scrum performance, but they are very important and they are also more long-term qualities you work on.

"Working on a very strong scrum core takes time. Working on consistent explosivity at scrum time takes time. That often also requires individual work. Things need to build over time and players need to feel comfortable in their roles as well.

"Every player has physiological ways of doing things... they may be taller, shorter, bigger, smaller, explosive or less explosive. You always want to use every player's best qualities, which requires different approaches."

Given that it takes time to build solid all-round scrum and that he will have very limited time to work with the Bok pack before the opening Test against England in Durban on June 9, he said he could not afford to make wholesale changes.

"It will be a tough task," De Villiers said of the three-match series against the English.

"It is well known that at international level you have very little time to work with players and myself as a scrummaging advisor will have even less time to work with the players.

"It is very important for [head coach] Heyneke [Meyer] to get his structures in place - the defensive structures, the attacking structures, the kick-chase structures.

"Looking at the scrum, I will have hopefully an hour with them [before the first Test], but that is something I have to accept and that is why it is important to sometimes work with players outside of that [Bok] context.

"However, the Boks have had one of the strongest scrums during the World Cup.

"The first step would be to not upset the applecart and just make sure we get back to where they were [at the World Cup], get the cohesion between the players back to where it was during the World Cup.

"[We must] get that platform solid and from there where do we need to tweak, where can we improve and that will come with time."

De Villiers admitted that it would be tough finding that balance between establishing a dominant scrum in the short-term, against England, while also to work long-term and build to become the best in the world.

"Everyone knows that every Test is important for every country and that is why the mix between day-in-and-day-out results and long-term growth is a tricky one, but it is an important one.

"However, I have all confidence in Heyneke to get that [the balance] right.

"We are blessed with a lot of quality players coming through in South Africa at the moment.

"South African players are at a very motivated stage - we didn't do as well as we wanted to at the World Cup, so the hunger is there.

"There is a new coaching set-up there as well, a lot of players want to prove that they deserve to be in that Springbok set-up.

"Another motivating factor is that some of our Super Rugby teams are doing very, very well.

"There are a lot of positive factors for South Africa."

He was quick to warn that England, who finished second in the Six Nations championship, would be a tough test for the Boks.

"We will come up against an English side that is also growing, that is also playing with a lot of confidence, also had the guts to throw in younger players. That is a team that gels.

"It will be a solid test, as it is always a solid test against England.

"The English will have a good scrum, they pride themselves on their scrummaging in the northern hemisphere.

"They will be very solid in that department, so it will be an excellent starting point - it will be tough, but we are looking forward to that."

By Jan de Koning