Scrumma-mogram: Wallabies scrum (Part 1)

Welcome back to the forum! Today we have three clips, which is a report card of sorts.

In this forum, we invite you to share your thoughts, fears and (happy) tears about the scrum. Everybody is welcome: backs, forwards, fans, non-fans, referees, coaches.

Please feel free to review the introduction article of the scrumma-mogram to see how things work around here.

First report card: Wallabies vs All Blacks first enagement in 2013
Requester: ‘Mike’. And a bunch of other people

Many recall that the Wallaby scrummaging performance after the 2013 rule change was a bit of a disaster. Our scrumma-mogram takes a close look, resulting in a few interesting discoveries. It also features a younger James Slipper, Scott Sio and the hinge ‘Ben Alexander’ against the renown All Black scrum, coached by ‘the master’ Mike Cron. The clip is self explanatory.

Diggercane says:
At the first introduction of the rules, it was noticeable how both teams still wanted the hit at engagement. Both tightheads were binding on the arm which is an indication that they were being set too far away from each other.

I also was greatly interested by the copter view, (we need more of those). You can see the Wallaby loosehead has not ‘popped’ his shoulder and is already on the angle at engagement but also further back.

The tighthead has little choice but to bind on the arm and essentially takes two impacts from the hooker and the loosehead. On engagement, you can notice the Wallaby scrum is in an arrow formation trying to isolate and pressurise the hooker on the feed.

Would love to have seen more of those top-down views.

DaffyD says:
While the first two scrums had a scrum feed ruling inconsistency by referee Jourbert, he should have pinged the Wallabies for pushing before the ball was in.

On the second scrum, the crowd ‘Ohhhhs…’ and the commentators pick up the second not so straight feed.

Scrum at 24:30 -The third scrum, the ref pings the AB #9 for a crooked feed but appears to be the same scrum feed as the second scrum which was OK. Consistency please ref!

Scrum at 54:00 – Both AB #9 and AB #7 are offside. Halfback Smith at 54:04 is caught with both feet on the wrong side of the ball when it rebounds forward in the scrum and flanker McCaw has already unbound. He left the scrum without retiring or attempting to retire while the ball is still in the scrum and then is all over the WB before the call of ‘ball is out’.

The ruling should have been penalty to the Wallabies.

Scrum at 55:40 The time there should be a genuine reset scrum (as noted in the video) AB #6 picks the ball up from ‘Out the same tunnel’ but play continues.

Question Where is the AR at scrum time? Are they supposed to ‘assist’ the on-field ref, are the ARs silent or are they being ignored, or are the ARs simply missing what happening?

There’s too much being missed by the on-field ref, especially at scrum time, that, in my opinion, should be picked up by the ‘assistant’ referee.

Second report card: Big biff – Waratahs versus Stormers. Round 9
Requester: Harry Jones and Diggercane

There was great interest about this match, which was played a couple of weekends ago. Up to this point, the Stormers laid waste to all wannabe scrummagers. Before this year, the Waratahs scrum was a bit of a joke, but has made rapid progress this season.

There were several requests for this Big biff review, as the most observers considered it an even result. A closer review shows a different perspective. Is this the final piece of the Australian scrum renaissance?

DaffyD says:
As the season progresses, we’re definitely seeing an improving Waratahs scrum. But even still, we’re seeing some dubious decisions.

Scrum at 24:56 Having been asked for a long bind ‘off the arm nice and long’, on ‘set’ the Stormers #3 immediately goes back to the short ‘armpit’ bind. After 15 seconds of scrummaging, the Waratahs are penalised — even though they are ‘still down in position.’

Apparently the referee has amnesia and has forgotten he asked for the long bind. Instead the ‘Tahs are penalised after 15 seconds. After the previous warning by the referee, there should have been some serious finger wagging at Marherbe and a hand hovering around the yellow card pocket.

Instead the Stormers get the penalty.

Scrum at 30:30 Penalty goes against the Waratahs, even though we see quite clearly #3 Marlherbe ‘stuka diving’ for the deck. C’mon ref!

Scrum at 63:50 Ball leaves the scrum and even though unsighted, the referee assumes that Phipps is offside and penalises the Wallabies #9.

Question Where’s the assistant referee? Surely they could offer more assistance on scrums and when the ref is unsighted.

But it’s not just the assistant referees. As we saw with the previous video referee Jourbert missed critical Offsides when directly in his view. Referee Fraser is also missing illegal play, including one immediately after he’s asked for a change.

Diggercane says:
Completely with DaffyD here, where is the assistant referee? And can you dispute the value of a fulltime scrummaging coach – given the Waratahs improvement?

Third report card: Crusaders playing checkers scrum still?
Requester: Diggercane

Many of the All Blacks scrummagers come from the Crusaders, who are renown for their powerful scrummaging. Is this still the case? Last week, we illustrated a left to right bias in the Crusaders push against the Cheetahs. Today, we check if this bias persists. Also we ponder what the referees are noticing, and thinking about this – if any.

Diggercane says:
To my mind, the Highlanders were well prepared for the Crusaders scrum technique. On engagement, they adjusted to the Crusaders angular movement by allowing the scrum to wheel. They did this while delivering a great contest.

This is hard to do, especially against the Crusaders ‘power scrum’.

The Highlanders achieved this by pushing hard on their tighthead side with the right-side flanker pushing up his tightheads seat. This helps his prop push down, through and in on the Crusaders loosehead prop.

At the same time, the other side of the Highlanders scrum retreated. This is key to maintaining their ground, and keeping scrum from disintegrating. Good stuff Highlanders forwards – a well drilled side.

DaffyD says:
There was some great scrummaging in this game by two evenly weighted and equally skilled packs.

But, as pointed out when the Crusaders were unable to dominate they reverted back to their ‘Cheatah’ form. With the scrum at 60:55, the irony is the referee awards a free kick against the Highlanders, even though the ‘Saders were clearly angled in and headed toward the touch line.

A final comment about the scrum and referees
The Waratahs are showing some solidity at scrum time which must augur well for them the latter half of the Super Rugby season, and then onto the Rugby World Cup.

It’s a good start, a work in progress. But it is going to take a lot of time, not just to get right, but to also change what appears to be referees going onto the field with preconceived ideas about Australian scrums.

The second thing a player learns is to play to the ref. Each ref has their own interpretation on laws and, as many coaches have said, “As long as the ref is consistent in a game, you play to what the ref allows or doesn’t allow.”

How can a team play the game, when the ref doesn’t make consistent decisions within the game?

How do we get all the refs to see more about what’s happening on the field and, be consistent in their rulings in that game?

OK, that’s all folks!
I hope it was fun! Your observations are appreciated. Questions are even more appreciated. No question is too stupid. And anyone can answer! Also, feel free to request any other engagements you want to be ‘Scrumma-mogramed’.

Also, stay tuned for the next round:
– Scrum penalty tries in Super Rugby
– Second installment of ‘Wallaby Scrum: Hope? Or Dopes?’
– Tahs 2014 vs Tahs 2015