Springbok hooker Marnus says Boks will stop All Blacks tricks in the lineout in Wellington

There were occasions during last week’s Test match at Eden Park where All Black Wallace Sititi was so offside in the lineouts that he was almost next to Grant Williams when Pieter-Steph du Toit cleared the ball off the top.

To their credit, the All Blacks played referee Karl Dickson to perfection. It was like the glory days of Richie McCaw, where the Kiwis got away with murder.

Once they saw that Dickson was not going to blow for interference in the lineouts or hands in the rucks, they went to town. Poor Williams had a difficult job in disposing of the untidy possession.

There is a different referee in this week’s return match against the All Blacks in Wellington in Nika Amashukeli.

The Boks will have pointed out Dickson’s shortcomings to the World Rugby refereeing department, for the Georgian referee’s attention, but hooker Marnus van der Merwe says the Boks will rather brush up on their tactics (than leave it up to the officials ).

Van der Merwe, who has been a standout forward for the Scarlets in the United Rugby Championship, made his first appearance in the green and gold in the friendly against the Barbarians in July. He made his Test debut against Georgia and earned a second cap, off the bench, when the Boks beat Australia in Cape Town.

The Boks lost four of their 18 lineouts in Auckland and overall in the Rugby Championship — after three rounds — have a disappointing return of 34 wins from 43 throw-ins.

On Monday, last week’s starting hooker, Malcolm Marx, put his hand up for his role in the misfiring lineout, and now Van der Merwe says the forwards as a group have looked at ways to fix it.

“We looked carefully at the video to see where we went wrong. Good stuff for them… What they did, they did well,” the 28-year-old former Cheetah said.

“We have looked at how we can stop their tricks this week,” he added before suggesting that the Boks will give the All Blacks a taste of their own medicine.

“We have looked at how we can force them into errors,” he said. “It is about going back to tactics that have worked for us in the past. We will just go out and play the game that works for us.”

Van der Merwe will be playing the All Blacks for the first time.

“It is going to be lekker. I’m a little excited, a little nervous, but they are the best in the world at the moment and I want to test myself against them,” he said.

“They are number one in the world, and playing against them can only make me a better player.”