The Waratahs' scrum problems are self-inflicted

Benn Robinson has made the candid admission to The Sydney Morning Herald‘s Tom Decent that poor training is behind the Waratahs’ scrum woes. Good.

This much-needed confession is a first for a player or a coach, for that matter. It is the first time anyone connected with on-field performance of a Super Rugby side in Australia has actually told the truth about a problem that is affecting the performance of his side.

Here are Robinson’s words about the Waratahs scrumming sessions: “Some of the standards we’re accepting at training are not acceptable. That’s across the board, so players coming in and packing against the starting side: it’s not good enough at the moment for me, which is a disappointing thing.”

What Robinson is saying is that there is no method in scrumming practices run by the Waratahs. It is not organised properly. The starting pack is not being confronted at practice by a proper opposition.

By implication this is a direct criticism of Cameron Blades, the Waratahs scrum coach. The comparison between what Robinson is saying about a Blades scrum practice session and a session run by Mario Ledesma, as described by Andrew Logan in a recent and fascinating article on The Roar, is stark.

It is clear from what Robinson is saying that the Waratahs, under Blades, are training for failure.

Moreover, there is an implied warning from Robinson that unless the scrumming practice is more focused and detailed, the Waratahs’ scrum woes will continue to plague the side.

If any of The Roar‘s readers believe that I am being over-dramatic in praising Robinson’s honesty, let them take note of what coach Daryl Gibson had to say to The Australian‘s Brett Harris about the Waratahs’ scrum woes in the match against the Reds.

“I thought our scrum came back quite well. Very well. We endured that first 10 to 15 minute period where the Reds had us under pressure, but then came back well at them. That’s a positive sign,” Gibson said.

No reference to the fact that during the Waratahs’ “came back quite well” period the Reds had their hooker off the field for a yellow card infraction that was caused, in part, by the dominance of the Reds pack.

No mention either of the statistics that indicated the Waratahs gave away six scrum penalties, and presented a scrum that was so demolished that the Reds were (finally) awarded a penalty try.

Gibson explained to Harris that the Waratahs won only 34 per cent possession, a factor that made it “difficult for us to get any flow and any sustained pressure on the Reds”.

The point here is that the pathetic scrum of the Waratahs was an important part of this lack of possession.

Where are the plans to do something about the Waratahs’ scrum woes?

My guess is that Gibson is in denial about his team’s woeful scrum. He appointed Blades as his scrum coach. He imported Angus Ta’avao, a journeyman back-up prop from the Blues, to be a Waratahs starter.

Blades told the SMH he is going to suggest to Gibson that Robinson be given a starting jersey for the match on Sunday afternoon at Allianz Stadium against the Rebels.

I reckon that some properly structured scrumming practice would be in order, too.

The referee for the Waratahs-Rebels match is Andrew Lees. He has shown a partiality to be tough on a scrum he deems to be weaker than its opponents.

If there is no improvement in the Waratahs’ scrum on Sunday, look out for someone in the Waratahs front row to be yellow carded.

***

The match of the round, from an Australasian Group perspective anyway, is the Brumbies-Chiefs clash at Canberra on Saturday night.

The Brumbies are the top Australian side on 17 points. And the Chiefs are the top New Zealand side (and leading the tournament) on 19 points.

The sides are presenting the two leading fetchers in the Australasian Group, David Pocock with the Brumbies and Sam Cane, the Chiefs No.7 and the likely successor to the great Richie McCaw.

Pocock’s great strength is his strength over the ball. He forced four breakdown turnovers against the Cheetahs and, according to Stephen Larkham, was so dominant that his man of the match award was automatic.

Probably there is no player in the game right now who is as strong and effective over the ball as Pocock.

Cane is developing a more all-round game than Pocock’s, in the method of the later years of McCaw. Cane wins the occasional lineout. He runs the ball up hard. He is invariably the link man when the Chiefs’ backs make a break. And his tackling, like that of Pocock, is relentless and reliable.

He is not as good over the ball as Pocock. But then not even the great McCaw was Pocock’s equal in that area. Against this, Cane does not give away as many penalties as Pocock does.

The Brumbies slaughtered the Hurricanes in the first game of the season at Canberra. But last year they struggled against a more organised New Zealand side like the Highlanders.

The Chiefs are certain to have a gameplan that complements the brilliance of their smaller players, the sensational Damian McKenzie, Aaron Cruden and Brad Weber.

These three players, among the smallest in the tournament, combined brilliantly to allow the Chiefs to defeat the Jaguares with a try (scored by Brad Weber) right on time.

Robbie Coleman, the Brumbies’ small attacker, had a terrific game against the Cheetahs. But the Chiefs trio present problems for opposition, especially when they combine with the form inside centre in the tournament, Charlie Ngatai, that teams are finding hard to solve.

So we will have this interesting match-up of an Australian side with a bruising pack that is good in the set pieces with a biggish and confrontational back line, up against a New Zealand side that struggles to get parity in the forwards but is lethal when play starts to move away from the set pieces.

The Australian Angus Gardiner is refereeing the match. I rate him as the best of the current batch of Australian referees. I have followed his career ever since he refereed the Michael Cheika Waratahs playing the Rebels in a friendly down at Hobart, in Cheika’s first outing.

The one weakness in Gardiner’s refereeing is a tendency to throw out yellow cards as if they were confetti. Young referees tend to do this.

Hopefully Gardiner has matured enough as a strong, confident referee (I believe he has) to allow the game to be a contest between two terrific teams, both of them well coached, with 15 players on each side going hammer and tongs at each other.

***

Talking about the referees allocated for Round 6, there is a curious selection for the Lions-Crusaders match played in South Africa on their Friday night.

The referee is Stuart Berry. The TMO is Johan Greeff. And one of the assistant referees is Craig Joubert. Fast forward now to Saturday, South African time, and the Bulls-Cheetahs match at Pretoria. The referee is… Craig Joubert!

Why isn’t the best South African referee, and one of the leading referees in world rugby, handling the most important match in South Africa at the weekend, the Lions-Crusaders match?

Berry, for his part, has a history of provoking the anger of overseas teams for some of his rulings.

SANZAAR is always telling up that the most appropriate referee for each match is appointed. It is very clear that Berry, with his history of making bizarre decisions, along with Greeff, another perpetrator of bizarre TMO decisions, are not the most appropriate referees for this crucial match.

I noticed last weekend that most of the referees took the initiative when the TMO was involved. They would spell out what they saw and ask the TMO if this is what he saw as well.

This technique was initiated as far as I can ascertain by Joubert and Nigel Owens. It was a reaction, I reckon, to their perception that some of the TMOs were too forward in coming forward with their interventions.

Let’s hope that Todd Blackadder won’t be able to say (as he did after the match against the Sharks which was refereed by Jaco Peyper) that he was “mystified” about a yellow card ruling against one of his players.