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Prop Ben Alexander (right) with Stephen Moore (centre) and Al Baxter practice their scrum. AAP Image/Dean Lewins
What a show of scrum dominance by the All Blacks in the Rugby World Cup semi final. But was it dominance from scrum greats like Tony Woodcock and the Franks brothers, or simply because Australia does not have props who can scrum at the top level?
Outside of Benn Robinson and maybe Dan Palmer, there is a serious lack of front three scrum depth in Australian rugby right now.
Currently I think the Wallaby scrum plays to the standard of a Tier 2 rugby nation.
The following teams all have better props that can scrum better than our Wallaby props, with only Benn Robinson and maybe Dan Palmer at the standard of these nations, who currently could and do beat us come scrum time.
In no order of who is the best scrum nation in world rugby, these teams have better scrum props and greater depth than us.
Here are the countries and some of the names of these countries and props, to prove this point about scrum quality compared to the Australia’s lack of at the present time.
– All Blacks (Franks, Franks, Woodcock, Hayman)
– Springboks (Mtawarira, Steenkamp, Van De Linde, Mujati)
– Samoa (Johnson, Perinese)
– Argentina (Scelzo, Roncero)
– England (Sheridan, Stevens)
– Georgia (All of their props currently play Top 14 in France)
– Wales (Jones, Jenkins)
– Scotland (Murray)
– Italy (Castrogiovanni, Lo Cicero, Perugini)
– Fiji (Manu)
– France, Tonga, Ireland and Romania all honourable mentions
So this brings me to the point. If Australia is ever going to be a serious contender for the Rugby World Cup again in the future, and scrums stay a proper part of rugby union, unlike rugby league, then Australian rugby cannot ignore this issue of our props’ scrimmaging ability.
And it has to be addressed sooner rather than later, otherwise we will go backwards as a top line rugby nation.
As stated earlier, the scrimmaging by our props was that of a Tier 2 rugby nation and that is very sad indeed.
I wonder what current Wallaby scrum coach Patricio Noriega, a former Wallaby and hails from a country with a proud scrum heritage in Argentina would be thinking right now about the standard.
He would not be happy. I say we must look at scrum development from grassroots development rugby up until under 20 colts, and there should be a serious review.
Maybe a set piece high-performance centre could be an answer that may help us in the future.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.