'We want a fair contest' - Irish scrum 'tricks' frustrate Boks hooker Boingi Mbonambi

While South Africa's depth off the bench ultimately proved too much for the Irish scrum in Saturday's first Test, for the opening hour of the game the starting Irish pack more than held their own.

It wasn't until after the lengty stoppage to Craig Casey as he was treated for a serious concussion that the Springboks got the squeeze on the Ireland setpiece, earning a penalty from which they ultimately scored their second try when Cheslin Kolbe pounced on James Lowe's mistake to score.

If the scrum had an indirect involvement in that try, their final score was all-scrum, as they drove them back over their own line for a penalty try which ultimately killed off Ireland's hopes of winning.

In the first half, and even for the first scrum after the introduction of South Africa's so-called 'Bomb Squad', it had been a much more even battle, and one which Ireland maybe even shaded.

And South Africa's hooker Bongi Mbonambi admits it's been a sore point for the Boks as they review the first Test.

"There's a lot of improvement to be done when it comes to scrumming against them," the 33-year-old said.

The 'Dark Arts' of the scrum aren't just for gameday, however, and the Sharks hooker (below) used Tuesday's press conference in uMhlanga to send a message to this week's referee Karl Dickson.

"I think when it comes to scrums, we had quite a good chat yesterday with Daan [scrum coach Daan Human] and the whole pack.

"In the first half we got frustrated because Ireland obviously looked to play a lot of tricks at scrum time, where we just want a fair competition, we want a fair contest at the scrum.

"Somewhere where we definitely have to learn, to train this week and learn our lessons from the previous game.

"The Bomb Squad did an amazing job, and the