Anorak wearing trainspotter? That’s how Greg Growden describes people who like scrums. I’m convinced people who don’t like scrums just don’t understand them, so I’m planning to write a few articles starting with the basics, getting more technical into the vibe, feeling and Mabo of the forward arts.
I won’t just focus on scrums, I’ll delve into general forward play as well.
Anyone who has read what I talk about on this site will know that I am passionate about piggies.
Watching the Wallabies versus Springbok game last week a mate turned to me about half way through and told me I was watching a different game from him. I asked what he meant and he said I was cheering and screaming at completely different times from him and the majority of the table.
Out of a group of ten of us there was only one other bloke who put his hand up and said, “I like the game he is watching.”
I wasn’t surprised to see that it was our token Kiwi who was in agreement with me.
Most Aussies have a back centric focus on rugby – my aim is to create a forum that focuses up front.
Hopefully we create a space that the aficionado can discuss forward play in detail and the novice can come to learn more and asks questions that dare not be raised in the knitting circles that the backs enjoy so much.
Sheek recently put up an excellent post regarding Wallaby players with the highest winning percentages and found five props in the top twenty: Ewen McKenzie, Tony Daly, Andrew Blades, Richard Harry and Dan Crowley.
This should not surprise anyone who cares about scrums. Harry is the weakest scrummager in that mix (Rod Moore used to come on for hard scrummaging tests in that period) but the important thing for me is that focus and care for scrummaging is one of the rocks that the ’91 and ’99 Rugby World Cup triumphs were built on.
I will never forgive Eddie Jones for devaluing scrums. He decided that scrummaging ability was not the first thing that a prop would be picked for and that led directly to Al Baxter becoming the most capped Wallaby of all time – I could cry.
It has been a long decade but finally props are being picked for scrummaging (except Cowan, I don’t know why he is there, should be Holmes). Anyway after a long wait I am starting to get excited again.
Robbie Deans has upped the skill level of the team with regard to passing and catching (except for Digby who brings a pinball like ability to bounce off people and keeps making yards so he seems to be excused for having hands like feet). Dingo has also demanded a huge improvement in our forward and set piece play.
I read a great article that when Brad Thorn first switched to union and had signed with the Crusaders he went out to Robbie’s farm. Within minutes Deans had Thorn standing one legged on a fence post lobbing a sand shoe above his head to start teaching him the balance needed to be a lineout jumper.
It was a key skill he would need to develop that was alien to the league game and could be trained with just two people who didn’t have a ball. It showed an understanding of forward play that I want more people to appreciate.
Looking at the test season so far, the Wallaby forwards had a much improved showing last week against the Boks compared to their efforts against Samoa. I’d say they improved from a D to an B-.
They collectively hit a lot more breakdowns and their scrum was much improved but they will need to improve again to compete next week. At the breakdown although there are more of them turning up they are still not working as a unit and binding to each other.
They must start working together and keep their feet while being tightly bound as they drive over the ball. Too often they stop at the ball or if they do go over it, they do it as an individual and take out one opposition player – usually while losing their feet.
Focus on binding with their team mates, keeping their feet and driving past the ball will start getting them to the required level.
I won’t go too far into the scrum in this article but Kepu looks quite comfortable at loosehead and Alexander has improved enormously in his two games at tight.
Alexander is still quite inconsistent. He started last week with a couple of scrums that he allowed himself to be driven up, he had one scrum where adjusting to get low he allowed his hips to be higher than his shoulders so it collapsed and his next adjustment was being a bit far away on the hit so that his legs were over extended.
Eventually he settled into a better position and we saw some real pressure delivered against the Bok pack. Much improved but he will need to get to a point where he can get into good position much earlier and then deliver it consistently throughout the game before I start relaxing regarding the 3 jumper.
Anyway for the novices if you have stuck this far I will go through the basics of scrummaging in the next article. For those of a like mind to me, welcome – hope you don’t get bored while I talk at an under 12 level but hopefully this will be a regular forum for focussing on forward play.
Damo
Guest
Good read Jeznez. A noble service you are offering. Regarding the explanation, education and celebration ofthe dark arts I have suggested on a number of occasions on this site a new fringe comp. A Tight Fives comp. Similar in flavor to that silly Australia's greatest athleteshow. As Sevens developed a speed in rugby, a similar 'Fives' would bring some strength, power, skill and 'fame' to the other end of rugby. OZ have been struggling at times to build a solid scrum in recent years. A tight five comp, televised and with technical explanations could go a long way to making scrums and rucks better understood, and maybe even glamourous? Turf cams, ref mikes, multiple refs, and informed commentary could add up to a following that not only understands the scrum, maul and ruck but also wants more of them. But the main motivation for such a comp would be to encourage participation and skill development in Australia's rugby skill vacuum - the scrum. It would be an off season comp perhaps over a week or two each summer.
Bakkies
Guest
After the test in Auckland the remaining Tri Nations games will be conditions that they will probably not face in NZ for the RWC. Macqueen and Jones didn't have a succession plan for props. We relied a lot on Bill Young milking penalties
Bakkies
Guest
We don't have the physicality and kicking game to play in the wet. Preparing for a Bledisloe Cup test in NZ and we are training on a bone hard schoolboy pitch in Southport. Makes no sense. We should be training in NZ or Melbourne or Tasmania. Where the weather is similar. Canberra is cold yes but the rugby pitches still look rock hard when I see highlights of the ACT local comp.
kaha
Guest
yes true to come to think off it.Can't wait for the first scrum . Funny thing for a former back to say I guess
AdamS
Guest
Spot on P.tah. NFL does this the best and it's long been a bugbear of mine that the reason a penalty is given isn't explained to the audience in any detail, we just get whinging. At every opportunity in NFL (and they admitedly have a lot of opportunities) they hold little law classes with diagrams etc explaining the recent play or infringment. While I dont think we need it for tactics, we certainly could do with it for scrum or breakdown infrimgments which often have no easily visible logic to them.
Bakkies
Guest
TG4 is no good for me. They only speak Polish. The way I see the scrum is that it is an arm wrestle and a test of strength. Putting your hand on the ground is like trying to win an arm wrestle with two hands. Weaker props with poor technique will lose their bind. You need strength to keep the scrum up. If you want to try and understand the scrum better watch a Top 14 match. It's aggressive scrummaging. Australia and Ireland have in the past tried to achieve parity at scrum time (ie the scrum stays up and doesn't go backwards). The locks have to bind properly and shove. Argentina used to use an 8 man shove.
Derm
Roar Guru
Sky Sports, RTE TV (Ireland) and TG4 TV (Ireland) do good commentary/explanations on what has happened during a game, they often have a scrum specialist who they switch to during a lull in the game to show what happened during a particular scrum or breakdown to show the behaviour of the packs, graphic arrows to describe how the various props are shoving, screwing/boring in/lifting/collapsing etc. From time to time, it makes absolute sense, at others I still feel I'm looking into a bowl of spaghetti trying to spot a strand of vermicelli.
RuckinGoodStats
Roar Rookie
The difference is NZ make it an annual requirement, with Under 6 its a bit different, but coachs still have to do it. I think SmartRugby is every 2 years. NZ started that way but not results so when annual. NZ started with RugbySmart and then SmartRugby. RSA recently got the kiwis and Aussies to help and created BokSmart. The problem is it is a real good news story and as such not news worthy...
jeznez
Guest
kaha, thanks for that, your story made me smile. Good on you for having a go.
Bakkies
Guest
Kaha the Wallabies haven't won in the rain in years. I suggest you rewatch the games against Munster and Samoa to see how poor we are in the wet
kaha
Guest
don't really agree being stuffed if it rains. Rain is a great leverler . wet ball, soggy ground that affects both sides so it's down to the side who can cope with the coditions better as they say on the day.
kaha
Guest
When I was at school I played centre, one year we lost every single game. On the second to last game I asked the prop if he would like to swap positions. I thought how hard can it be. Man was I in for a rude awakening. I got hiosted so m y feet left the ground doubled over so I couldn't breath. As you should of guessed I walked away from the scrum with new found respect for forwards, and said to the prop f that.
Blinky Bill of Bellingen
Guest
Fear not. We have been preparing for Auckland by training on the Gold Coast at sufferer's parasite :) ?
Bakkies
Guest
We are stuffed if it rains. There have been a lot of wet weather games in Auckland this year. Macqueen and Eddie Jones tried to multiskill our forwards it worked until England brought out a forward oriented game plan where we won hardly any ball and going backwards
jeznez
Roar Guru
Bakkies, Harry was a mobile prop but Moore and Blades were strong scrummagers. McQueen played horses for courses having the personnel to adjust to different requirements. Agree that the maul stopped being a weapon at that time, Rod's teams were much more about maintaining possession through ruck ball and opening opportunities for the backs that way. The Wallaby's last game left a lot unanswered for me - how do they plan to build pressure before going wide in the coming weeks?
Bakkies
Guest
Completely agree about Australia being obsessed with running rugby. Macqueen was also guilty of neglecting the scrum when he coached the Wallabies. A lot of our forwards still don't know how to clean out and hit rucks. They stand out on in the backs thinking they are centres. We used to be very good at the rolling maul under Dwyer's coaching but we stopped using it for some vague reason. Most true rugby fans know how often we used the maul in that era. This also created another problem we had no idea how to stop them. Imagine how dangerous Larkham would have been had he been playing off a 40 metre rolling maul or had a pack that provided clean ball. Most of his test career was played behind a pack going backwards. When we go backwards a lot of our attack is lateral. The coaches have also not concentrated on proper kicking a lot of our backs don't know how to put the ball out.
jeznez
Roar Guru
The point I'm trying to make King is that when you have two well drilled, highly competent, reasonably matched packs, paired with good refereeing you don't get too many collapses. The next article is going to be Scrummaging for Beginners so will be going through what forms good technique and what people should be looking for. And isn't the problem more with the second six words than the first four? I'm not a massive fan of the Pause but don't want to dwell too much on that here. As I said basics in the next article.
jeznez
Roar Guru
I think it has been realised for long time that the nearest person to a lot of breakdowns is a back and that person should be getting in to secure possession. Amongst the 3N teams Conrad Smith probably makes the biggest contribution in this area. Was very enthused by Alexander's try against the Boks - after the break when JOC got tackled it was Pocock (of course) but also Cooper and Beale getting into cleanout so that Genia had quick ball. Really good work by the speedsters to supply ball before the defence had time to settle. Tuquiri when he first came across and was desperate to make the Wallabies was another back who worked hard at the breakdown. I remember his first game against the Crusaders at the SFS and he was tackled on the middle of the 22, he released, got to his feet, cleaned out and the Tahs had quick ball which they scored from. Lote's work there was sensational but as he became more established in the Wallabies that element of working hard at the breakdown was no where near as evident. I've always suspected complacency.
jeznez
Roar Guru
I like it p.Tah - brilliant ideas
jeznez
Roar Guru
It is a great feeling. Feels like you are King Kong. I've been suprised that although the Waratahs have become quite good at stopping driving mauls this year neither they nor the Wallabies have managed a really good drive yet. They got something going in the Samoa game but turned it over when they didn't protect the ball adequately. A couple of times they have set good platforms but haven't got their feet working - the old 'baby feet' move to start taking little steps doesn't seem to be part of the repetoire at the moment.