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Everybody is on their way to Europe. At least, that is the way it must seem to Wallabies coach Michael Cheika as he sifts through his options at tight-head prop for the coming series against England in June.
Money talks, and it has scraped off the top talent from the best generation of Australian tight-heads in the last 15 years. 63-cap Sekope Kepu has gone to Bordeaux at the pinnacle of his career after an outstanding World Cup in 2015, and Paul Alo-Emile has left for Stade Francais at the tender propping age of 24 years old.
Prior to that, Kieran Longbottom moved to from the Western Force to Saracens in 2014. He sustained a long-term injury at a time when I know the England selectors were looking to fast-track him into the national squad alongside Davey Wilson and Dan Cole.
Had he remained injury-free, Longbottom would have had a realistic shot at making the World Cup squad with his ability to play on both sides of the scrum.
Even with Australia’s new sabbatical system in place, there is a problem with continuity for the coach. He can spend a couple of years developing a player only to see him flee over the horizon for the benefits of life in Europe or Japan.
The migration of Kepu, Alo-Emile and Longbottom has certainly left Cheika with an issue in backing up his senior tight-head, Queensland’s Greg Holmes, for the summer series with England.
The problem is compounded by the fact that Holmes himself is on his way to Exeter Chiefs in time for the beginning of the 2016-2017 season in England. This means that Cheika will also have to find a new starter at tight head for the end-of-year tour, and possibly even for The Rugby Championship in August.
The amount of coaching detail Wallaby scrum coach Mario Ledesma has been able to pump into the tight-head position has only sharpened the importance of the availability/development issue. Ledesma managed to get both Holmes and Kepu really thinking about their scrummaging, and both had learnt how to manipulate the scrum angles far better under his tutelage.
In these clips we can see the impact of Ledesma’s work both on Australia’s own ball and the opposition feed.
On their own ball, we can see Kepu during the second Bledisloe match against New Zealand in 2015 at 0:55 and Holmes from the Reds vs Waratahs game last week at 55:35. In both these examples we can see the same techniques at work.
In the New Zealand instance, at 0:58 Kepu makes the first of four short side-steps to his right in order to create an angle on his opposite number Tony Woodcock. By 1:02, just as his hooker Stephen Moore pops up out of the front row, Kepu has achieved his aim. Numbers 2 (Moore), 4 (Will Skelton) and 3 (Kepu) have worked around the right corner of the set-piece to create the perception of dominance and draw a penalty from referee Nigel Owens.
On the close-up replay, the angle of the two Wallaby locks is clearly visible – it is out towards the New Zealand defensive fly-half channel. Through excellent technique, the Wallabies have manipulated a scrum situation where the All Black forwards cannot oppose them.
The example from the Reds match shows the same method from an overhead camera angle. As the scrum develops, we can clearly see how Greg Holmes first digs into the gap between the Tahs loose-head and hooker at 55:42, before starting to shuffle around the right corner at 55:44. At this point, the gap widens between the two Reds’ locks as the
pod of Holmes, Rob Simmons and Hendrik Tui forces the issue over the right side and draws the penalty at 55:52.
On opposition ball, let’s have a look at Kepu against the All Blacks in the Rugby Championship at 1:40 and Holmes from the Reds-Waratahs game at 16:20 and 43:22.
The method on opposition ball is different. Against the All Blacks, Kepu starts dead-straight at the feed and then alters his angle inside onto the Kiwi hooker Dane Coles at 1:43. As soon as he gets his head under Coles’ left shoulder, Tony Woodcock can no longer protect his own hooker and the All Blacks begin to give ground.
The situation at the feed in the Reds example at 16:20 is identical – Holmes straight at the feed, then digging through Tatafu Polota-Nau’s left-arm bind and moving inside past Paddy Ryan to win the turnover with a seven-man scrum. Even veteran Benn Robinson struggles to cope with this technique at 43:24, with Polota-Nau’s bind again coming apart and the movement in the scrum disrupting the timing of the Tahs’ first-phase backline move.
So Australia are going to lose a very sizeable investment in Holmes and Kepu. The issue is who Cheika and Ledesma are going to find to replace them.
They could, of course, go back to Ben Alexander, Laurie Weeks or Paddy Ryan. But, in my opinion, the best young prospect at this stage of the Super Rugby season is the Brumbies’ wonderfully-named Leslie Leuluailii Makin.
Makin played the whole second half against the Hurricanes in week one and the last 30 minutes against the Waratahs.
During his time on the field as part of the Brumbies’ impact front row off the bench, the results have been spectacular; two tries from Brumbies five-metre scrums, including a penalty try against the Waratahs, three other penalties on own ball scrums, including two touch-finders leading to tries from five-metre lineout drives, one penalty and one turnover close to the Brumbies goal-line on the opposition feed, and no penalties conceded.
Makin seems to have the ideal tight-head physique – short and compact, with a wide, solid base and the kind of sloping shoulders which enable him to burrow into the gap between loose-head and hooker.
Perhaps the most impressive aspect of his work so far is that the Brumbies scrums tend to go forward square when he is on the field. Frequently a scrum will be penalised if it goes forward on only one (typically the loose-head) side, but Makin ensures there is forward motion on his side before it begins to rotate.
We can see this against the Hurricanes at 64:00 and 70:30, and the Waratahs at 68:00. He is clearly exerting significant pressure, enough to pop Paddy Ryan clean out of the set-piece at 51:24.
Is he ready for a Ledesma makeover with the Wallabies? The next six or seven weeks should give us the answer to that one!