Rugby World Cup: The strange statistic that helped All Black Ethan de Groot hurt Ireland

Rugby World Cup semifinal: All Blacks v Argentina. Where: Stade de France, Paris. When: 8am Saturday (NZT). Coverage: Watch live on Stuff (with te reo commentary option), Sky Open and Sky Sport 1 from 6.45am.

Ireland’s confusion in the scrums in Paris last weekend – of which there were only five in total and none awarded to the men in green – didn’t encourage All Blacks loosehead prop Ethan de Groot to sympathise.

It was their problem, not his. And now the Irish have a bigger one. They’re out of the World Cup.

“You have got to go straight, and they were going around, so there’s nothing else I could really say about that,” de Groot deadpanned when quizzed about Ireland’s illegal tactics at Stade de France.

Irish loosehead prop Andrew Porter was a picture of frustration when penalised by Wayne Barnes during his side’s 28-24 loss to the All Blacks in the World Cup quarterfinal.

Barnes, a barrister, was judge and jury on the subject. The Englishman wasn’t asking All Blacks props Tyrel Lomax and de Groot for their opinions on the matter, either.

“Nothing to me, nothing to us,” said de Groot, who was only required to pack down in three of those scrums. “Just keep it square, go forward and that’s about it.”

Following the loss, Ireland coach Andy Farrell said his team had a different view on the interpretations, noting Porter wasn’t happy: “But we don’t want to sit here with sour grapes.”

De Groot, built like a bulldozer and with 2src test caps to his credit, makes scrummaging sound simple. But it’s complex, and All Blac