Adam Jones delivered a tighthead master class during the third test between the Wallabies and Wales.
Benn Robinson has scrummaged well all year at Super level besting most opponents but he gave away two penalties for collapsing on the weekend.
Ben Alexander and Sekope Kepu gave away a penalty each, one for collapsing and the other pulling around on the wheel.
Coupled with three free kicks for early engagement, the Wallabies gave away seven scrum infringements on the weekend. In contrast, Wales gave up one penalty when Alexander got a good drive on Paul James and James countered by angling in.
There were eight scrums awarded in general play and a further eight due to resets or Wales seeking to press their advantage by re-setting scrums from free kicks and penalties. It is fair to say it was a mess.
The question needs to be asked why the scrums degenerated as much as they did. I have to start by giving credit to the Welsh and to Adam Jones in particular. Jones’ body height is exceptional. Benn Robinson usually gains a lot of advantage by being shorter than most opponents and scrummaging lower than them.
Although both listed in the team program at 183cm, it is clear that Jones is taller than Robinson but he still gets lower pre-engagement. Robinson also thrives against taller opponents by closing the gap pre-engagement. Jones was able to negate this by getting into near perfect scrummaging position before engage was called.
Matthew Rees, Ryan Jones and the rest of the Welsh scrum are to be commended in assisting this. Rees takes a lot of weight in helping hold up Adam Jones pre-engagement. Ryan Jones and the second row are working together as well. Ryan Jones was very evident using his own body weight to hold the Welsh locks back as they assisted in holding their front row in position.
None of the above is terribly cutting-edge front row play, it is the basics executed very well.
Of the sixteen scrums packed on Saturday, the Wallabies would only really be happy with three of them. In the thirtieth minute they won a scrum on their own ball nicely and moving forward.
In the 55th minute, after packing four scrums on their own five metre line, Robinson managed to get the upper hand and drive up on the left hand side and forced the Welsh to play the ball as the scrum wheeled.
In the 67th minute, Sitaleki Timani and Dave Dennis got a great shunt on Ben Alexander to win their penalty against James. Apart from those three, the other 13 scrums were either resets or in Wales’ favour.
The high number of free kicks against the Wallabies in this series is an indicator of how much pressure they were under. The three this week followed on from a similar number last week. The Wallabies were trying to pre-empt the referee’s call to negate the pressure from the opposition. It was a direct result of the Welsh dominance.
So where do the Wallabies go from here?
We have issues with players playing out of position in our Super squads.
Ben Alexander is a tighthead and needs to play there at Super level. Unfortunately with Dan Palmer in place he is not the best tighthead in the squad.
James Slipper’s performance at loosehead against Scotland was a pass. It was not as good as his 2010 performance against Martin Castrogiovanni but Euan Murray is no slouch.
Unfortunately for Slipper, his Reds teammates Ben Daley and Greg Holmes are both looseheads meaning he spends all his time at tighthead for the Reds. Making him switch for Internationals is slowing his development.
For the sake of Aussie rugby, I’d like to see Alexander and Holmes swap teams. They are similar ages and both have Wallaby experience. Both squads would be left with their younger developing props in Daley and Ruaidhri Murphy as well as their young test props in Slipper and Palmer.
This would allow Alexander and Palmer to stop robbing each other of minutes at THP, while Holmes and Slipper both got time at LHP.
The other option which would achieve a similar result is for Palmer and Slipper to swap.
Meanwhile, in Waratah land we have highly competent bench players not getting enough match time. Paddy Ryan and Jeremy Tilse would make the Rebels starting side yet are biding their time from the bench behind Robinson and Kepu the test incumbents.
Tilse in particular has spent five or six years on the bench, the Rebels should be looking to lift these two as their current scrum is not getting the job done. It is impossible to assess at the moment whether their young second rowers are causing some of the problems as they’ve never had a decent pair of props in front of them.
Is central contracting from the ARU something that we need to look at?
We have an issue when Wallaby players are out of position at the Reds and Brumbies, meanwhile the Waratahs are blessed with depth while the Rebels send out a lifeline to Jono Owen. This is not good for our scrummaging development as a nation.
The Force are the only Aussie Super Rugby team with a good balance in their propping ranks. Salesi Ma’afu and Pek Cowan have recent Wallaby experience and are being pushed for their spots by Kieran Longbottom, now due to injury Salesi Manu is coming on as well. They are the only squad I think has its balance right.
Finally the Wallaby selectors need to look at what they value.
Dan Palmer played well in his debut test and the scrum went to pieces when he left the field. Alexander needs to play tighthead to a good standard at Super level before he should be considered in front of Palmer for international caps.
Greg Holmes also should be looked at further. He is the strongest challenger to Benn Robinson as a Wallaby loosehead scrummager but didn’t even make the Wallaby’s broader squad. He should not be ignored.
We need to give these props every chance at Super level to succeed and then create an environment where there is genuine completion for places and reward for performance. Continually just picking Robinson, Kepu and Alexander regardless of performance will not see us make the improvements we need to.
Alexander in particular is on borrowed time if things don’t change.
SkinnyKid
Guest
I'm a svelte 111kg right now so slimming down the title too.
Blinky Bill of Bellingen
Guest
FraggleWrangler- Interesting points about the jersey. I can't work out for the life of me how in the hell jerseys can change without players vetting them, trialling them and having a say. Imagine if they did that with Rugby balls? Maybe that's not a good example. I think you should submit and article mate. Of course easy for me to say. But it would no doubt get loads of comments.
Blinky Bill of Bellingen
Guest
Sunny Repton - Well that would be 'not so sunny Repton' today. Right? Thanks for that link mate I will duck over there now & Edoo Kate Mee Shelf ;) Werewolf had an attempt to sort me out (above). He's not to know what a low base he's working from. But much of it was helpful. On Phil Kearns - I quite like the guy and respect him for his Rugby achievements. The idea of having former Wallabies on the panel is great as it allows viewers a chance to get an understanding of just what occurred on their TV screen. Let's face it, there's a damn lot of scrums & resets, so it kind of makes sense for your average Joe Punter (Moi) to at least try and work out what happened at scrum time. Got to say though that IMHO Kearnsey, as the only former forward on the panel, isn't doing nearly enough in the 'clarification' department. We have Kafe's chalkboard and that's brilliant. I wonder if PK or someone with some scrum savvy couldn't do a similar thing and explain 'what happened at penalty time' when it relates to our scrum. We need educating!!!! :(
Blinky Bill of Bellingen
Guest
Neck injuries eh? Well I can see that & of course everything possible should be done to protect players while at the same time ensuring a fair contest for the pill. I wonder if the packs coming together & in the 'hit' position but without any actual collision (if that makes sense) and only scrumming when the 9 puts the ball in has been tried & tested? Seems safer to me & should cut down resets. I could imagine though that 'real props' may consider it unmanly.
jeznez
Roar Guru
Neck injuries BBB, IRB tightened everything up as there were too many people getting hurt. I have no idea if the current changes have reduced the numbers of injuries or not.
jeznez
Roar Guru
FOS, you parochial soul - thanks for chiming in. I've never seen PAE play but he is young and yet to be capped isn't he? Is he a tighthead or a loosehead? That is crucial to any decision to bring him back. Certainly the Reds have had no problem going outside of Queensland when they haven't had someone to fill a role - Daniel Braid and Beau Robinson in the 7 shirt come to mind and current coach McKenzie stand as cases in point. If the squad doesn't have a genuine tighthead then they are foolish not to look at acquiring one. That said I've seen a couple of articles on rugbyheaven indicating they are pursuing Tilse - so maybe they are foolish because he would just add to the logjam at loosehead and not fix the tighthead absence.
jeznez
Roar Guru
I'm a Fardy fan, I thought he should have been in the Wallaby squad - before Horwill got injured I wanted him as the other starting second rower. Revelation may be a bit over the top though.
jeznez
Roar Guru
A weaker scrum will always be dependent on getting the hit - that is exactly why they are going early. You are spot on there.
Jutsie
Guest
Yeah cos the QLD scrum are real world beaters atm 8-)
formeropenside
Guest
Its alright, with Queenslanders you get to have both. Why do you think all the other provinces poach them?
Blinky Bill of Bellingen
Guest
Yep I remember those scrums from the Chris Handy days. And then recently they showed them again on a classic Rugby match. The scrums more or less took care of themselves, in went the ball and as you say 'over and done with quickly'. I wonder what was wrong with them that it needed changing? But the IRB frustrates the hell out me with how long it takes them to figure things out. And then they get it wrong again!!
Blinky Bill of Bellingen
Guest
Thanks for trying. :) There's some efforts going on to explain scrums to former backs (and other ignorant people) over at the Rugby Gold website, which I find interesting and often challenging. But it's well done and I admire the guys passion for scrums.
Jutsie
Guest
I highly doubt that the professional outfit like the reds board would possess such a narrow minded view. I think they would much prefer on-field success to some antiquated state loyalty view.
formeropenside
Guest
Because it is stupid - why would the Reds not prefer to have a Queenslander playing for them. If anything, the Reds should aim to get PAE back from the Rebels and send Guy Shepherson off into the sunset.
formeropenside
Guest
Rubbish about the Reds hogging talent - we have given the rest of the Australia Moore, Sharpe, Pocock, Dick Brown, Mowen, Kingi, Barnes, JOC, Drew Mitchell, Tomane, and we've just donated Higginbotham to the bloody cause due to the ARU. Not to mention the non-Wallabies like McKibbin, Sitauti, Mogg, Kuridrani and Cummins. Also, I think Palmer is a myth, as I have yet to see him scrum consistently well against the Reds Daley or Holmes over the last two years.
Ben S
Roar Guru
'What’s the deal with this Ben S bloke is he a troller?' Given you think that SA had the edge over England come scrum time I think the troll accusation is best kept to yourself.
wannabprop
Guest
Jeznez. Thanks for the article - love analysis of the 'dark arts'. Re the early engage, could it be that the Australian scrum is far too dependent on getting the hit? Seems to me, if they don't get it, they go to water. Their technique is seriously lacking without it, and have no variation. Compare this with the French, who have the ability to absorb the hit and respond in a counter wave (saw this repeatedly against Argentina), and change it up depending on the opposition. Have to say I did see Moore giving the locks an ear full in the second test after being called on early engagement. Unless he was just pumping them up?
Scott Fardy has been fine. A revelation is a bit of a stretch. If we seriously want to fix the scrum we need to think outside the box to get our younger guys ready for test rugby in their early 20's as the englisgh are managing to do. Those that make it... make it... those that don't can eek out an existence in sydney or brisbane club rugby I guess. We've got to do something though and quick because things are getting better with our scrum talent. I take your point that strength is developed over time but professional athletes are a little different so a younger man can have the strength and particularly the fitness that an older man might have. Let's not forget the older man might be cutting corners by the time he's late twenties early 30's. What's the deal with this Ben S bloke is he a troller?
FraggleWrangler
Guest
I brought up a point earlier this year in a conversation with Jake White and Laurie Fisher. We were discussing the TV coverage of old world cup matches in the weeks leading up to last year's RWC. A prominent feature was the rarity of scrum resets and collapses compared with today. Several reasons were put forward such as heavier packs, stronger engagements, etc, but the one reason that was most often mentioned would also seem the one most easy to fix......the jerseys. Traditional rugby jerseys allowed a more substantial bind. Then someone decided the Tour de France jersey was the new rugby standard, and all of a sudden we not only had jerseys that looked like crap and supporters don't want to wear, we had more and more scrum collapses and scrum penalties. Old club jerseys sometimes even had padding (or just a few extra layers of cloth) sewn into the shoulders and cross stitching like judo uniforms for added strength in the bind. The current IRB rules for uniform only mentions a jersey should be worn along with shorts, and the more technical rules tend to deal with safety equipment and padding.. How about adding just one simple line to regulation 12: "The jersey shall be of durable contruction and shall be loose fitting, allowing at least a 3cm gap between the jersey and the player's body around the torso." Straight away you're 50% of the way towards fixing the scrum and I can actually buy a wallabies jersey that doesn't look ridiculous. (Maybe I should write my own article on the subject and submit it as a topic by itself)
Ben S
Roar Guru
Wink wink.