Wilco: There is more to scrumming than just trying to pulverise people

WILCO Louw has a reputation as the Springbok with the fiercest handshake.

- JOHN GOLIATH

Rumour has it people would rather greet him with a kiss on the lips than risk having their hands crushed.

Being on the receiving end of a Louw handshake is probably what opposition loosehead props feel when they pack down against the big tighthead in a scrum while he wears the green and gold.

Louw has been a destructive force when coming off the bench for the Boks in the Rugby Championship this season. In both Tests against the All Blacks, he had their pack on skates. Nicknamed “The Fridge” when he first came through the ranks at the Stormers, the powerfully built Louw has relished his cameos off the bench as part of the Boks’ famous “bomb squad”. “Coming off the bench, I have a certain role to play. My first job is to scrum and maul,” Louw told the media yesterday ahead of the Springboks’ Rugby Championship Test against Argentina in Durban on Saturday.