All Blacks want ‘smarter’ scrum play
By Neil Sands, 29 Sep 2011 Neil Sands is a Roar Rookie
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- All Blacks, Mike Cron, Rugby League, Rugby Union, RWC
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All Blacks’ scrum guru Mike Cron said on Wednesday he wanted “smarter” play from the New Zealand pack, advising his players to tone down their aggression in the final Rugby World Cup pool game against Canada.
Cron rated the New Zealand scrum’s performance in the 37-17 win over France last weekend as “a reasonable game, not great” but said his charges were improving as the tournament progressed.
“We’re ticking away, each week we’re getting a bit better,” he told reporters.
“We’re pretty positive about it actually, managing to get the boys in a few different combinations and they’re all carrying themselves well. No injuries, which is great.”
Cron said while he had been impressed with the scrummaging skills of so-called minnow nations at this year’s tournament, it was hard for a dominant pack such as New Zealand’s to avoid penalties against weaker opposition.
He said the New Zealanders needed to ensure their scrum was “squeaky clean, (had) great technique and take the decision making away from the referee”.
“We’ve probably been guilty earlier in the campaign of being just a fraction too aggressive and it ends up in a collapse and a penalty against you,” he said.
“So we’ve got to be smarter, which I think we will be.”
Cron, who will leave the All Blacks’ coaching set-up after the World Cup to concentrate on junior development, said he had a unique insight into Canada’s scrum after coaching them for a week earlier this year.
He said the Canadians were “going pretty good” after defeating Tonga and drawing with Japan.
“I’m looking forward to seeing how they go (against New Zealand on Sunday),” he said.
“I’m sure they’ll acquit themselves well.”
Long regarded as one of the world’s leading scrum experts, Cron said he expected more than brute force from the New Zealand pack.
“We want these front rowers in New Zealand to be special creatures, where they’re like flankers in general play but they do their set piece 100 per cent correctly,” he said.
“We’re continually working on our skills, not just set piece, and I think that sets us aside from some of the other teams.”
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The Crowd Says (5) | Page 1 of Comments
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- All Blacks, Mike Cron, Rugby League, Rugby Union, RWC
September 29th 2011 @ 2:20pm
jeznez said | September 29th 2011 @ 2:20pm | Report comment
Despite the positive words my suspicion is that privately Cron would not be too happy with the performance of the AB scrum so far. Tonga pressured it late in the first game and France in the last. Canada should be a cakewalk for them but there are some worrying signs.
September 29th 2011 @ 2:23pm
Kuruki said | September 29th 2011 @ 2:23pm | Report comment
Im getting rather annoyed with the All Blacks and their scrummaging. There is no doubt that Woodcock has power, but seriously he is the biggest cheat in the game. Every scrum he places his hand on the ground at some stage or looses his feet, there’s no questioning his power, as he is always going forward even after picking himself off the ground illegally. The All Blacks in my opinion are frustratingly stupid when it comes to scrummaging. Holding the ball at the feet of the number eight has never been more then a fifty fifty option. The amount of pushover tries these days is 0. The amount of mistakes holding the ball at the feet make it almost a worthless cause, other then a boost to the ego. Get the ball off the back and use it. Stop trying to demolish opposition scrums on our own ball and just get clean ball to our deadly backs.
For a team that boast a powerfull scrum we sure as hell are not getting the benefit from it that we should be, often being penalised just as much as the opposition even with the dominant scrum. Im amazed the 3 wise men have not picked up on this already, the longer the ball is in the scrum the more chance we have of the ref giving it away to the other side.
The only time we should be going full guns is when we are attacking the opposition scrum.
On our own ball, just get it in and get it out. Somebody needs to teach Woodcock how to stay on his feet, he is a serial offender and i am amazed how often he gets away with it. If he manages to stay on his feet he is still the best Loose head in the game but that’s not very often just watch the next game and see how many times his hand goes to ground or he drops to a knee and gets back up.
We seriously do need to get alot smarter with our scrums otherwise stop talking ourselves up in that area.
September 29th 2011 @ 2:34pm
jeznez said | September 29th 2011 @ 2:34pm | Report comment
I don’t think Woodcock has fully recovered from his injury layoff – he definitely looks the weakest link in the pack at the moment.
AB’s probably have a inflated feel for their scrummaging ability based on pushing the Wallabies and Springbok packs around (despite their reputation the Boks have not been top scrummagers for years). I certainly thought they were better than they have shown this tournament.
Crockett was left out to allow the flexibility of Afoa and B Franks to cover both sides. I wonder if Cron is ruing that decision at the moment. Crockett still needs to develop but he may be a stronger option right this minute.
September 29th 2011 @ 4:56pm
flying hori said | September 29th 2011 @ 4:56pm | Report comment
kukuriki, since when have you become a scrum guru, you don’t know what your on about boy! Woody only fails in the last 15 – 20mins of the game and thats more to do with his fitness, other props attack his binding arm which ( any prop for that matter ) causes him to slip the bind and thus hand on deck, check the games more carefully and you’ll see in the early stages when his binding arm is messed with hes able to be still in control, once your buggered your history, and i know what i,m on about as i have coached premier grades in NZ under the tutalege of guys like Hika Reid and Jim Love
September 30th 2011 @ 4:08pm
Kuruki said | September 30th 2011 @ 4:08pm | Report comment
Rubbish, he is always going to ground or he put’s his hand on the deck which is illegal. And ive seen him do it in the first 15 minutes of the game. Lets wait till sunday and we will see how many times he goes down or hands on the deck and then we will come back and see who is talking shyt. It’s got nothing to do with his binding arm being messed with he often drops his bind on purpose because he knows he is about to loose his feet and he uses that hand on the deck to stay up and it’s purely his power that allows him to correct himself by driving forward. The problem with Woodcock is that he does not hold a perfectly straight back and his head is often bent to low in relation to his hips. It is purely his raw power that keeps him in the game. He is not a technically good scrummager. Just watch him. There is a reason he gets penalised often.