The movement for positivity launched in the run-up to the Rugby World Cup by our fair editor was good to be part of, was great fun, and generally speaking was received and consumed with the right intent.
And that got me thinking, that in the lead-up to England-Australia on Sunday morning, it’s time to kickoff another movement for positivity. And sure, there’s an ulterior motive at play here, but let’s not concern ourselves with such triviality.
One of the great advancements in rugby coverage in recent years has been the addition of the overhead ‘spidercam’ pointing directly down at the scrum set piece about to pack. The overhead angle shows all that is great about the rugby union scrum.
We can see the concerted efforts of eight-man scrummaging units, and similarly, we can see the clear and obvious illegalities employed by packs trying to gain an advantage by whatever means.
It made for particularly interesting viewing on the weekend, when the overhead shot showed precisely what English loosehead Joe Marler was up to – and his liberal interpretation of what constitutes packing straight – against Wales at Twickenham.
Former top referee, Jonathan Kaplan, took to Twitter, as he is wont these days, and was subtle as ever.
He kind of had a point…
Former expert colleague Paul Cully picked up on it, too, writing in the Fairfax Media press on Sunday.
“As England won three early scrum penalties, it showed the same thing: England captain Chris Robshaw hanging off the side of the scrum to generate the angle to push his loose-head Joe Marler across the tight-head. In fact, the third of those scrums went sideways, not forwards, yet referee Jerome Garces ruled that England has achieved dominance.”
And the point about Robshaw is very valid, too. You can see it in the still above, that Robshaw isn’t actually bound to his lock, but rather to Marler’s backside, as they both angle outwards so as to bore in on Welsh tighthead Tomas Francis.
Cully finished up his point on England’s scrummaging shenanigans with, “Over to you Romain Poite.”
The Daily Telegraph in London picked up Kaplan’s tweets too, and certainly, the general awareness of how England achieved much of their early scrum success against Wales has increased. Heading into what is now a blockbuster Pool A match, the timing of such awareness couldn’t be better for the Wallabies.
So this is my campaign: we need to get the message out there and out there loud: #ScrumStraightJoe
I know Will Sinclair is with me, because it was his comment on my Australia-Uruguay reaction piece yesterday that inspired today’s column. Like Will, I hope Marler’s tactics and Kaplan’s comments have made it all the way to the plush suites of wherever the World Rugby heavies are staying, and indeed, into Romain Poite’s pigeon hole. The message should be simple: #ScrumStraightJoe
The Wallabies scrum is much improved in 2015 under Mario Ledesma, but the pressure that’s piling on the English team currently – no Rugby World Cup host has ever failed to make it out of the pool stage – means that they will try whatever they think they can get away with at scrum time, and indeed, all across the park.
It means that Wallabies’ eight needs to ensure that not only are they comparative angels in the eyes of Poite, but that they are up to whatever the English pack try on them.
A number of you commented at the time, and again in the last few days, of Dan Palmer’s mention last week of how French referees generally side with the dominant scrum.
“I might be over-simplifying it, but in a way, I think the French have it right. They will not look at technical things too much, and they will just reward dominance,” Palmer said in my scrum chat with him last week. “So if you’re dominant, it’s probably going to go in your favour. You might be dominant for slightly illegal reasons, but who cares, that’s the art, and you’ve got to get better at that.”
Now again, and as I did at the time, I must reiterate that the written text taken literally does have a different meaning to the way the words were delivered at the time. Palmer is not saying that French referees ignore illegalities and just reward carte blanche dominance. Rather, what he means is that if your pack is winning the engagement, and you’re able to achieve go-forward within the scrum – mostly legally – you will win more scrum penalties than you concede.
It’s also true that the Wallabies haven’t had the best of times with Romain Poite in the past; another reason why the Australian scrum must be on its’ best behaviour.
The key to highlighting Marler’s country-street-parking-angle of engagement is going to be Sekope Kepu and his flanker on the tighthead side keep their hips square and in close to the lock. And if the Wallabies’ concerted second shove can achieve go forward themselves, then Marler and Robshaw’s angle can be accentuated further. Done well, the Wallabies might even be able to shear Marler off completely.
Either way, and like all other battle across the park, it shapes as a massive test of the Wallabies scrum. If they’re good enough, they could send England packing. But it also requires that Poite and his assistant are also up to the task and not afraid to clamp down on the clear infringements.
#ScrumStraightJoe. Tell your friends, particularly your French mate Romain, currently in London for work…
Sluggy
Roar Guru
Point of order - while M. Poite has blown Wallaby scrums off the park for years - including yellow carding Al Baxter IIRC - in the 6N against Scotland in February he pinged Marler 2 or 3 times for driving across at the angle. As a result Marler packed straight. Do not abandon all hope. While M. Poite does tend to make up his mind early on as to who's winning the scrums, he may not be as easily conned as M. Garces.
Chancho
Roar Rookie
You're just being harsh... The bloke's got a scrumping masterclass don't you know https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbLMidXiQQY&autoplay=1&app=desktop
Mike
Guest
"Or there's an attempt to somehow plant a seed in Poite's head and make him question the validity of a retreating Wallaby scrum" Very good point, JimmyB. Other countries, for example England, would never stoop to such tactics. :D
Connor33
Guest
No doubt you saw it, Brett (and Will), but the the Twitter protest is gaining traction in UK papers: "Marler’s technique has been highlighted elsewhere with one Australian website attempting to get #scrumstraightjoe trending on Twitter. Overhead pictures of the Wales match also show Chris Robshaw, the English captain, coming away from his second row to assist Marler angling in on Francis." http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/rugby-world-cup/11900268/England-vs-Australia-Rugby-World-Cup-hosts-guilty-of-illegal-scrummaging-claims-former-Wallabies-coach.html
30mm tags
Guest
Great article. Unless evidence is provided , the England management will be just as guilty as Volkswagen lextolling the virtues of their Diesel engines. Thank goodness for science ahead of marketing.
JonA
Guest
Don't let facts get in the way of a good aussie moan.
JimmyB
Guest
Now Brett, I'm fairly sure that I've heard you say more than once that you don't really understand the finer details of scrummaging. Truth be told, probably 90+% of us on the Roar are guessing (or bandwagon jumping - a common trait on the Roar). However I would argue that if the picture you have used is your alleged 'smoking gun' then at best England are going to be found not guilty and at worst you maybe found in contempt for wasting the courts time. In my opinion, all teams 'cheat' at scrum time to varying degrees. The art is getting away with it or making the ref think that it was your opponent who was cheating and who knows maybe they were too. If a scrum isn't bending the rules or on the edge of legality then the question should probably be asked - why not? Given the historical scrum woes that have afflicted Australia and the perception that perhaps those woes still exist, I'm always pleasantly surprised how many Aussie Roarers appear to be complete experts on the subject, able to spot illegality from a 100 paces, not to mention the weak spot of any scrum and how to fix it. It makes me wonder why the ARU felt the need to hire an Argentinian to coach the Australian scrum, perhaps it was for appearances sake. The continued highlighting of England's scrummaging on here smacks of one of two things, either excuses are being got in very early or there's an attempt to somehow plant a seed in Poite's head and make him question the validity of a retreating Wallaby scrum. Perhaps it's both, but anyway, I wish you well with your endeavours Roarers.
Mike
Guest
There is far too much fear-mongering going on about the English scrum. I agree that Poite is a potential problem, he tends to jump to conclusions too quickly as he did when he carded Ben Alexander in the 3rd Lions test in 2013. But we mustn't forget the fundamentals. Marler sometimes bores in, and personally I think that's a sign of weaknesss. Corbisiero generally doesn't bother, and I would far rather we faced Marler than Corbs. But more often, Marler's apparent boring in is a consequence of other things that are going on, like a slight sideways shift by the whole England 8 during the engagement. I am confident an old dog like Ledesma will have given our pack a good grounding in these things and how to counter them. Re the photo above - it proves very little and if we rely on it we might do ourselves a disservice. Yes, Robshaw is not properly bound to his lock - but neither is the Welsh No 6. Have a look at the relative position of the two flankers shoulders to their prop's butt, and to the lock next to them - the Welsh flanker cannot have more than a hand on his lock. But the real question is, how did that happen? Without viewing the engagement sequence, its impossible to tell, and therefore impossible to tell if there is any blame to be apportioned. The Wallabies need to work on their own alignment, co-operation and engage sequence. They have to be aware of what the other pack are doing and have some counters ready, but not be overawed, and whatever they do must be done together.
WQ
Guest
Brett there is already to much interference in the game by the TMO
Mike
Guest
Actually it doesn't appear that the Welsh No 6 is bound to his lock. Just a hand. I say that even though I think this whole discussion is misconceived. People jumping to conclusions about who did what which they cannot do unless they watch the engage sequence.
Noodles
Guest
If you have a quick look at the overhead shots of each scrum you see a tight Wales front row pack against a gappy England that very quickly angles. Cheika seems to have noticed that. Hence his casual remark that the Wb would pack straight and apply pressure. It is a pity that England's abundance of talent is consistently rubbished by excessive focus on dopey muscle and tricky gotcha tactics.
Mike
Guest
Thank you Digger, finally some analysis that is not as simplistic as some of the complaints above. You have to look at the whole engagement to work out what happened. Think about last year, Wallabies against England, the scrum from which Morgan scored the try. Marler and Kepu were both angled in at the same time during set. Faingaa and Slipper were both squashed up against each other - it looked like they moved in opposite directions, i.e. into each other. Its not as simple as some make out.
Mike
Guest
Exactly. It was an issue with Marler on EOYT 2014, and before that with other props. Its actually not just a loosehead issue, but I shudder at the thought of trying to get that across on the roar.
ClarkeG
Roar Guru
Ok Peter so that would be least cynical out of at least 10 players at international level. What about Super Rugby. How does he stack up there in your opinion?
Pete
Guest
C'mon now, we all know that it doesn't count as cheating unless the AB's do it.
ClarkeG
Roar Guru
Peter can you not see the facetiousness in my post. I would doubt very very very much if every single infringement by all players in most games would be noticed. Seeing you’re taking it so seriously do you have answers to my two questions? Also as you are a man that often relies on statistics in support of your views are you aware of any statistics as to how many times per match McCaw actually infringes and avoids being noticed and how does that compare to other players. At this point I’m no longer being facetious.
Mad Dutchman
Guest
Quade because we need goal-kicking of less than 50%?
PeterK
Roar Guru
Out of all professional 7's that I have seen play regularly. So the 6N's teams and TN's teams.
PeterK
Roar Guru
ClarkeG - So you believe in most games every single one of his infringements is caught?
ClarkeG
Roar Guru
Peter. Pocock is least cynical of all 7's. you say. Gee that's ok then as I was thinking maybe you thought him not cynical at all. Could you just clarify or narrow down what you mean by "all 7’s". You don't mean all 7's do you because that would be an awful lot and you couldn’t possibly know them all.