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 penalty try was very satisfying for everyone."
Mbonambi will win his 71st cap on Saturday, starting in the most experienced Springbok team ever, with 990 caps combined in the first XV.
The double World Cup winner will be packing down opposite a different hooker this weekend however, with Dan Sheehan's knee injury ensuring Ireland will be making a change in their front row.
Rónan Kelleher is expected to be next man up after replacing Sheehan off the bench last weekend, and having scrummaged against Kelleher at the World Cup in 2023, Mbonambi doesn't believe Ireland's setpiece will be depowered.
"With the injuries, it's part of the game, it happens.
"The other hooker, Kelleher, he's quite a good scrummager, he's more physical, so it's definitely not going to be easier.
"They do have a top class front row, and just one injury in the pack doesn't really make a difference. We're expecting a hard challenge when it comes to scrumming, but we'll prepare ourselves and hopefully the scrum will get more rewards," he added.
Around the park, Mbonambi is expecting Ireland to go hard after South Africa at the breakdown.
And he explains the new law trials around the breakdown, which has made the 'croc-roll' illegal, means he and his players have to be squeaky clean when trying to get Ireland's players off the ball.
"Obviously with the new laws coming in, we know that the breakdown is definitely going to be a point of...there's going be a lot of pressure on it, by the refs and also by the players contesting for the ball.
"But then obviously, with Jerry [Flannery] coming in, it has helped. Jerry and Duane [Vermeulen] have been trying to improve our breakdown skills. Jaco [Peyper] is also teaching us the laws.
"We're looking at things like, when can we counter ruck? When is the ball out? Obviously we know that the Irish team is definitely going to come harder than they did at Loftus.
"They pride themselves at sort of shortening the rucks, getting to our nine, of slowing down our ball.
"We saw how it impacted our play when they start getting on to Faf [de Klerk] and all that, and shortening our rucks. So, yeah, it's something we definitely going to have to focus on.
"Jerry [Flannery] is also doing an awesome, fantastic job, teaching us exactly how the Irish players attack our rucks. We did it already in pre-season, and it's good to see the pay off when it comes to the big games," he added.
Listen to live commentary of South Africa v Ireland (4pm) on Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1, and follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app.
