Amongst the rugby lessons of 2023, a key one was that a strong scrum can win games. Conversely, a weak scrum can see a team’s hopes go up in smoke.
A run of injuries to some key props saw the Wallabies struggle to establish a consistent platform at scrum time in 2023.
The lack of options at Wallabies level is a product of a lack of development and nurturing at the Super Rugby Pacific and club competition levels.
Looking around the five SRP sides, three of them have had their front-row stocks bolstered heavily by overseas talent in recent years.
Most heavily reliant on overseas talent in 2024 are the Queensland Reds.
Former All Blacks duo Alex Hodgman and Jeffery Toomaga-Allen are joined by second-year Fijian Reds player Peni Ravai, with the international trio holding most of the quality and experience in the Queensland front-row.
Alex Hodgman says he’s open to playing for the Wallabies after making the switch to the Queensland Reds. Photo: Queensland Rugby
Despite the recruitment by Les Kiss and former head coach Brad Thorn, along with the nabbing of ACT Brumbies academy product Massimo De Lutiis, the propping quality at the Reds is far from homegrown.
Similarly, the Western Force have had to rely heavily on Argentinian tighthead prop Santiago Medrano, who at times held up the Force’s scrum single-handedly in 2023.
To lighten the load head coach Simon Cron has recruited former All Black Atu Moli.
The five test All Black has played primarily at tight-head prop, garnering 53 caps for the Chiefs over the last eight seasons.
Moli’s ability to play tight-head and loose-head adds a layer of class and stability to a previously inexperienced and young roster.
The Force have also recruited Reds loosehead prop Harry Hoopert to replace long-term injury layoff and Wallaby Tom Robertson.
Between Hoopert, Angus Wagner (LHP) and Santiago Medrano along with Moli, the Force have a strong starting scrum, but the depth drops off quickly should injury strike.
Atu Moli was signed by the Western Force. (Photo by Adam Pretty – World Rugby/World Rugby via Getty Images)
This is where homegrown depth has a crucial role to play.
Young guns Marley Pearce and Siosifa Amone are very young props in both years and experience and are still finding their feet in the competition.
Back over on the east coast and the Waratahs have replaced Leicester Tiger Nephi Leatigaga with former Saracens loose-head prop Hayden Thompson-Stringer.
Head coach Darren Coleman has also bolstered his tight head propping stocks with ACT Brumbies recruit Tom Ross.
The Waratahs unearthed a rising talent in Tom Lambert in the wake of a devastating run of injuries to golden boy Angus Bell, but scrum time was still not a point of difference for the Tahs.
In 2024, the Waratahs are looking much healthier with a possible Wallabies front-row of Bell, Dave Porecki and Harry Johnson-Holmes.
Provided they all stay healthy, a front-row bench composed of Mahe Vailanu, either Lambert or Thompson-Stringer, and Ross looks like a roster which could be competitive with any team for 80 minutes.
The other two franchises, the Melbourne Rebels and ACT Brumbies have some of the strongest front-row rosters in the competition, both are stacked with Wallabies and Australia A representatives.
Australia’s Super sides are in a good position for 2024 thanks to the large overseas recruitment drives but therein lies the question of pathways and development for young Australian props.
After all, it didn’t help the Wallabies at the World Cup when Taniela Tupou missed three of their four pool matches. With Allan Alaalatoa already back home recovering from an Achilles injury, the Wallabies barely fired a shot.
Allan Alaalatoa’s injury was a massive setback to the Wallabies’ World Cup hopes. (Photo by Morgan Hancock/Getty Images)
In France, a tight-head prop is almost as valuable as a flying winger, and this is a mentality Australia must adopt throughout its systems.
Prop and arguably second row are the two positions which the player pools don’t face poaching pressures from rugby league.
They are positions which Australia should be able to find, nurture and secure bucket loads of talent, but the pathways are not churning out regular quality props.
There is a number of young props around the nation, of the youngsters, Jack Barrett at the Waratahs, De Lutiis at the Reds, and Pearce at the Force are the real standouts, and all are under the age of 21, with lots of time to grow.
However, props are like a fine wine, only getting better with age, it’s the crop that is nearing their late twenties that perhaps have not been given the love they need.
Retaining, training, growing and heralding props is something Australia must get right if it is to rise again to rugby’s highest heights.
It starts in the pathways, but it can also be argued Australian commentators could do a better job of explaining scrum tactics and hyping them up for the epic and unique battle that they are.
The scrum in Australia is safe for the moment, both at SRP and test level but come the 2027 World Cup, Australia must find its frontmen and pave their path, for that tournament and the many tournaments to come.
MO
Roar Rookie
Cheers Nick. Too small for tighthead but ok for loose head and and a good temperament
Cec
Roar Rookie
Still very young and filling out
Brendan NH Fan
Roar Rookie
A fan of different teams using their strenghts to win games. Should NZ have lost to Ireland as they used scrums to win penalties to win the games. How do you punish a team who won't scrum.
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
Ah, yes, a fan of 40 metre 3 point kicks for F all.
Brendan NH Fan
Roar Rookie
You get plenty penalties at lineouts when other teams are breaking the rules.
Brendan NH Fan
Roar Rookie
Belham couldn't get a SR contract so was hooked up with Ulster then moving to Connacht. Oz could do with the Wales rule of we will pick any player OS but you need to move back to Wales once your OS contract expires unless you have X number of caps. Allows players not getting picked to go OS but if becomes good can get picked and will come back to SR a test player.
Wedge
Roar Rookie
FF, This is a professional sport and Players will chase a contract wherever they are offered one. IF these "stolen players" were so high on the retain list at the Tahs they would have made it happen. I cant speak for other SR squads but I keep a keen eye on the number of Brumbies home grown Vs brought in as youngster's and developed Vs signed from elsewhere. Its fluctuated a bit over the years but is generally 1/3 or more home grown, 2/3 Academy product and 1/3 recruited from elsewhere. I don't think we can blame anyone (after being rejected in own state) for chasing a professional rugby dream.
Nick Maguire
Roar Rookie
MO, "Rugby Australia and the Western Force are thrilled to announce the re-signing of Tom Robertson through to 2025, which includes a sabbatical studying at Oxford University in 2024. The versatile prop has been a constant figure in the international arena, having played 31 games for the Wallabies since his debut in the gold jersey in 2016. Born in Wellington and raised in Dubbo, Robertson played in four of the five 2022 Spring Tour internationals and scored his first Test try against Italy in Florence. Robertson is a prominent piece in the Force's front row, notching up 35 caps in the West over the last three seasons, and 95 overall in Super Rugby after making his debut for the Waratahs back in 2016. The 28-year-old is currently rehabilitating an ACL injury he suffered against the ACT Brumbies in Round 13 of Harvey Norman Super Rugby Pacific this year."
Cec
Roar Rookie
Good point. I think that style exists on an open counter or in the attacking 22. It’s just too risky as a go to style & I think Chieka post RWC15 proved that. You’ll need experienced playmakers to pick those moments.
AndyS
Roar Rookie
So a fifth of the team is just covering two positions? As I say, something has to give so what does that mean for all the other playing positions, not least the six other players in the scrum? How many spots end up covered by part-timers and generalists, because the team has overcommitted elsewhere? Yet the teams also have to do development, as well as be competitive with sides that, rather than carry extra cover, can just go outside their squads to a pool of professional players itching for the chance, from a comp that is also doing the player development separately.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
Every Australian team has at least 6 props in their squad. The issue is how much they can afford to pay their bench and outside the 23 props
Honest Max
Roar Rookie
I’ll give you Scott Sio.
AndyS
Roar Rookie
Yes, because there is only space in a 30 man squad for two players in each position. Pretty simple math. No problems if they are the best four to be found in a bigger underlying pool of professionsl players, but in Australia they aren't. They are the only professional players in the country, so there is zero depth. And all the development of new players for all positions then has to happen in the other 5 spots per team, which is why all of the teams and the country in general are thin in every position. SR is being expected to do everything, but fighting with both hands and a foot tied behind its back.
AndyS
Roar Rookie
No, they don’t. Outside of broadcasting, the biggest revenue stream is Tests and they are played pretty evenly across the country. But WA and Vic in particular fund that, as the state governments pay millions extra to get what NSW and Q’ld just expect as their right. Literally any one Test played in Perth in the last 15 years would have returned more to RA than they have distributed in total to WA in community payments since the sport went professional, and there have been a lot more than one. That few million NSW and Q’ld gets every year by comparison, particularly NSW…never really thought where that came from?
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
All good in the article the headline sets a misleadingly ambitious standard. Let’s just hope the Wallabies do respectably in Southern Hemisphere tests, win a majority of Northern tour games, maybe even beat the Lions, and do Ok in the next WC, possibly a semi even. Of course, the sad fact is that props are only so valuable because they are the chief source of cheap (often debatable) penalty kicks from 40-50 metres out, one of rugby’s chief pieces of time wasting nonsense. You don’t get a penalty for winning a lineout against the throw, but getting an opposition prop to slip his bind before the ball has even gone in, or con the ref into thinking the opposition has been naughty- that’s pure gold!
Rolando
Roar Rookie
So a big contributor is the Giteau Law. Without it a young prop could go OS for experience and money and know he could still be picked in the WB squad. That reduces the chances of Aus players choosing Scotland, Wales or even Italy instead. In the case of Hoskins he went to Saracens when the Force folded. He did play once for WB’s in England to cover for TT’s head injury and he’s still eligible to play for WB’s and many of us thought he should have been!! In the case of Bealham we didn’t let him slip so much as he preferred to play for Ireland, joining their youth program. We also have to recognise that the ‘Australian way’ of playing rugby is less and less competitive against Euro or SA or NZ teams who have powerful AND skilful forwards with the ‘attritional’ style of forward play.
John Ferguson
Expert
I reckon some of that Suali'i money could have been spent to capture at least 10 up and coming props a year at the very least! Kellaway, Jorgensen, Suali'i and Peitsch all at the Tahs makes for a tight starting XV
John Ferguson
Expert
Can you imagine if we got back a fleet of 24yo from ProD2? We would be swimming at scrum time, definitely an idea worth so weight! An Australian born prop just got his first cap for Wales last night in the Six Nations, another one slips through. Finley Bealham was a Brumby I am pretty sure, Ollie Hoskins. The list goes on.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
The issue isn’t the squad limit. It’s money. It’s very rare you get beyond the top 4 props and you have a player with any experience at all.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
The Skelton comment is overblown. Why are we shocked a player that showed this exact ability in patches, is hitting his peak and doing it more consistently at the age where players hit their peak?