Watching the Waratahs face the Blues last weekend got me thinking: what can the Tahs tweak in their existing game plan to get more offloads, physicality at the breakdown, and more points on the board?
Michael Cheika has been on a mission to fix the scrum, after it was the most penalised in 2014. But the scrum for the Tahs is fool’s gold, and the team should focus on its strengths to achieve their audacious goals of going back-to-back.
The scrum as we all know is an ever-evolving facet of the game that is constantly changing from IRB intervention, and teams imploring illegal tactics to convince the referee they have the dominant pack.
At the end of the day, for anyone who has played in the tight five, the groans of a forward pack before scrum training are warranted. The scrum is not only dangerous by nature, but is incredibly exhausting. When you’re dealing with 1.5 tonnes of force generated from a typical scrum, it’s going to take it out of you!
This was epitomised in the dying minutes of the first half against the Blues. The scrum was reset three times on the Blues’ five-metre line before Jaco Peyper lost patience and blew a penalty in favour of the Blues.
The passionate boos from the Tahs fans were great to hear but unfounded; the only ones with the right to boo was the Tahs backline who were deprived of quality ball five metres out, and potentially seven points.
The Tahs have scored most of their tries off set pieces so far this year, so why didn’t they give their stellar backline a crack? It was either arrogant or misguided to think they could get a pushover try against two experienced All Black front rowers in Tony Woodcock and Charlie Faumuina.
These fruitless attempts of achieving scrum dominance are taking its toll on one of the Tahs’ best forwards, Sekope Kepu. Although he probably wouldn’t admit it, watching the game last Saturday Kepu was huffing and puffing after each scrum. For the second consecutive week in a row Kepu came off around the 55-minute mark.
A player of Kepu’s calibre needs to play at least 70 minutes if the Tahs or Wallabies are to be contenders this year. They should focus on quick-recycled pill for the backs, with fewer engagements at scrum time, leading to Kepu having the energy to set up in attack to have more of those barnstorming breaks up the mid-field.
Roughly a month ago the Rebels destroyed the Tahs pack in the second half when both Benn Robinson and Kepu were interchanged. Jeremy Tilse got a yellow card, and it was only when Kepu came back on that the Tahs got some much-needed structure in their set piece and stopped the Rebels’ onslaught.
Cheika and his scrum consultant, Mario Ledesma, should be focusing more on quick and clean ball from the scrum as opposed to shoving the opposition pack off the pill. I’m not saying that they pack down a six-man league scrum, rather they should use the same scrum tactics from last year but focus on holding the scrum in its shape and not pursuing this ambitious goal of pushing over opposition packs.
According to SANZAR the Tahs are fourth last in scrum successes so far this season.
You only had to watch the Hurricanes play on Friday night against the Stormers to appreciate the lack of presence the scrum has in Super Rugby. At half time the Sky Sports New Zealand commentary team asked assistant coach John Plumtree for insight on the second-half game plan. His response: “We’d like less scrums”.
They haven’t lost a game this year for a multitude of reasons, but you can see that their replacement rakes in Brayden Mitchell and Motu Matu’u for the incumbent Dane Coles have an uncanny ability to strike the ball back before the opposition pack gains ascendency. These are the tactics Cheika needs to seriously consider, as it reduces the rate of scrum resets and picks up the pace of the game.
Cheika talks about the Tahs’ identity and the identity fans loved and admired last year was a high-octane and abrasive style of play. Watching those last three minutes in the first half on Saturday night, the identity was lost and tainted with a misguided set piece strategy and wasted attacking opportunities.
Having a mediocre scrum might encourage players to improve their ball skills; catch more passes, and avoid placing a game’s strategy on an area of the game that isn’t quite there.
I would love to see the Tahs go away from energy-sapping scrum resets and focus more on the things that their fans loved about them in 2014: enterprising backline play, physicality, and abrasive running.
It was these three elements that brought them their inaugural Super Rugby championship.
RobC
Roar Guru
Cheers bennalong. pjm, this has the Tahs tighthead performance vs Blues. Its in the First video. It comes up after the Pumas Italy scrum http://www.theroar.com.au/2015/04/10/scrumma-mogram-front-row-seats-for-south-african-referees-joubert-and-jaco/
chris
Guest
Hear we go again it's all down too bloody scrum's and they are a blight on the game....make them 5 man or just scrap them as Iam sick of all the talk is about the 16 man game within a game and want to see proper 15 man Rugby.The forwards think there the be all and end all of the sport yet some couldn't catch pass a ball never mind catch a cold (which back's do catch cold)
ethan
Guest
Bulls, yes. It started out poorly, but has been improving...
Akari
Roar Rookie
and more importantly, the Canes won their game without a strong scrum and limited ball in the 2nd half. Why is this so given Clive Woodward's view on go forward, winning scrums, etc?
Buk
Guest
PS James thought it was good article, stimulating stuff. (Heresy for me though, having aspired to play front-row for the Bendigo Old Girls D team :) )
PeterK
Roar Guru
crusaders, bulls, stormers, brumbies, blues. What is noticable the tahs smashed the blues scrum and handled the brumbies one easily.
ethan
Guest
Crusaders scrum has been dominant recently. Blues also have a good scrum when both Woodcock and Faumuina start. Brumbies also have a good scrum. They're my top 5.
Harry Jones
Expert
Etzebeth v Skelton: tectonic plate shifting
bennalong
Guest
RobC, I've really enjoyed your input here. This is what rugby blogs should be. Friendly banter but interesting analysis. Thanks! And thanks for the article James. I too think you're wrong but I can see why you feel that way. IMO the scrum needed to be fixed, pure and simple. Last season the forwards dominated in most aspects of loose play, but if Cheika was going to maintain a positive momentum he needed to resolve the set piece issues. Dominating by way of scrummaging is actually exhilarating for the entire pack and I don't think this has been emphasised enough. As Rob C points out, once we've changed the perception in the minds of the refs, and just as importantly in the minds of the opposition, the emphasis will be for the Tahs to call. I think it's possible this weekend will deliver a great game. It's a key match in fact, because the Tahs need to dominate the Stormers for at least forty minutes over the game. By this I assume 20 mins of to and fro leaving the Stormers 20 mins in attack. This says nothing about points scored. It may be tight! ButIf the forewards do their thing the backs should be too experienced and too big! I think they'll keep the Stormers backline in check but again it's the foreward battle that, if won, will prove they're in contention again
Alex L
Roar Rookie
Of course the Hurricanes didn't want more scrums with the Stormers, the Stormers had them going backwards constantly.
RobC
Roar Guru
Howzit Harry! Ready for a cracking weekend!? re starting team. - It'll be the redhead vs Kepu. Koch v BR - Eben vs Big Willy - Whilst JackPot has always been good, Hooper form in scrums has lifted also.
RobC
Roar Guru
re starting team. - It'll be the redhead vs Kepu. Koch v BR - Eben vs Big Willy - Whilst JackPot has always been good, Hooper form in scrums has lifted also.
Harry Jones
Expert
Howzit RobC! -Vermaak isn't strong enough -Kitshoff is -JPot works hard at scrum -We need Rhodes to step up
RobC
Roar Guru
This weekend will be the match to watch, Harry!: - Stormers playing Chiek-ball last week 2H - Tahs scrummaging like the Stormers But the 'fun' ones to watch are: - Paddy vs Vermaak - Tilse vs Malherbe I think we might see Paddy do well. But Frans might be rubbing his hands...
Harry Jones
Expert
I hope the Tahs don't scrum this week
PeterK
Roar Guru
It is not that simple. Otherwise Argentina and England would be no 1 and 2 in the world. Wallabies rarely have a better scrum than england yet have won more games against them than lost. That said the scrum is important and tahs and wallabies need to focus on it.
RT
Guest
I probably couldn't disagree with this article more. Recent comments from Clive Woodward emphasise what every coach has known since time immemorial. Win the go forward, win the feed, win the scrum, win the game.
RobC
Roar Guru
Wait for the next video, which shows a great example of a THP scrum pod do this exact thing. Hopefully out in roar tomorrow.
RobC
Roar Guru
Cheers pjm, same here. I think Stiles Fisher McGahan Foley, showed the way last year. Ultimately, EM with Blades actually. Was important for Cheik to get stuck into it, this year. Re spider bind, its less to do with arm leaning. But more about keeping the THP shoulder right up, to show there's no down pressure. As the intention is for the THP to drive the LHP down and back into his own pack. Which is cool to watch, when done legally.
pjm
Roar Rookie
Thanks Rob, good to have a scrum chat. The only part of Ryan's arm that is touching the LH arm is his wrist. There is no way in biomechanics hell can he exert enough pressure through his wrist to cause the LH to collapse. I agree with you on Ryan. I think Ledesma has shown what a joke all the scrum coaches have been that have gone through the Super teams and the Wallabies for the last 15 years.