Scrum Talk

[TheRiddler]

Anyone spot the Meerkat deliberating flouting the rules during the recent Eastwood v Uni game on ABC? Taking the piss and feeding the ball into the scrum one handed. Wasnt picked up by either the ref, AR or opposition 9. Very strange.

Anyone notice that the Meerkat's first put-in to the scrum when he came on tonight was one-handed again. The scrum collapsed and he got to re-feed but not before Wayne Barnes reminded him to use both hands. Still find it hard to believe he hasnt been pulled up on it before and wonder why he feels the need to deliberately flout the rules.

 

[WB3]

^
Plus the Boks won a tighthead when Burgess fed it straight and Moore/Fainga'a (forgot who was on) forgot to hook. The ball sat there for a couple of seconds before it sank in that it was free to hook and then Smit nabbed it.

 

[Newb]

Riddler, saw that one-handed special. not sure what he's trying to accomplish there....

WB3, the channel 7 commentary mentioned that moore (i think) couldn't get his foot up to hook it because of the bok scrum pressure. either way, burgo should have angled it more as everyone was getting away with it. that one nearly went straight through the tunnel!

 

[Hugh Jarse]

^
Plus the Boks won a tighthead when Burgess fed it straight and Moore/Fainga'a (forgot who was on) forgot to hook. The ball sat there for a couple of seconds before it sank in that it was free to hook and then Smit nabbed it.

Moore was hooker. The tighthead was a blight on an otherwise sound game from him.

The fact that Burgo fed it in along the centreline may have been a contributing factor to the TH. There isn't much incentive for the 9's to feed it in straight for a genuine contest.

This comes back to the start of the thread - Cheating little runt yapping halfbacks.

 

[wobbly]

Remove or reduce the hit as it's the reason for many collapses. get the ref to feed it on the new 4th call: Crouch, touch pack, feed!

 

[Hugh Jarse]

Hmmm .... could work. I read this while I watch our Swans dealing to Carlton on the TV, and can see that you may have been influenced by the AFL Boundary Umpire's role. This idea that could only come from Melbourne.

 

[DavidG]

The Wallaby front row has been owned by everyone and anyone all season. Terribly disappointing. Almost seems it doesnt matter who we put in our front row. How long does it take to correct this problem? Powder puffs. Just sooo soft. Doesnt mater what the back row does, this part of our game needs to be removed like the cancer it is. I dont know what coaching/management is doing to correct this but it has been futile so far.

Sorry my 1st post to be such a venting, but I sit here and watch the Australia v France game and as the French toy with our scrum I'll like we are of little or no consequence to the opposition.

 

[Reddy!]

How bad is our scrum? Pretty bloody bad but so is the referring. Things improved with Slipper TH, Robinson LH

 

[cyclopath]

It's awful. No other word for it. They MUST do something in the off season to improve this aspect of play. It is just unacceptable.

 

[DavidG]

And then our back turns on a record performance murdering the French backline ... Well done boys ....

I played this game for 20 years as a forward and when I see the Aussie forward smashed I hang my head .... Please please get Robinson back in the starting 15 ... In my opinion young Slipper is a great sub but not a starter ... 10 months to the World Cup .... Im sure a little scrummaging practise wont go astray

 

[Groucho]

I thought Slipper did fine today.

 

[cyclopath]

Welcome, David G.
I actually think Slipper has been the only positive to come out of the scrum mess of this tour. Robinson and Alexander have been nowhere near their best. Ideally, Slipper would be a bench player with a solid, older head starting. But no-one has filled that role?

 

[Hugh Jarse]

The referees and their inconsistent pause between "Touch" and "Pause", and "Pause" and "Engage" have a lot to answer for the mess with ALL teams scrums this year.

At the best of times forward packs are relatively simple things, and they need simple instructions. They are not getting these from the match officials.

Inconsistent power hungry referees who have never played in Front Rows are ruining the scrum as a contest, and IMHO are contributing to making the scrum more dangerous than it need be.

The way they do NOT police cheating runt halfback illegal feeds to the scrum makes you wonder why the keep pretending that the scrum is a genuine contest.

Why bother trying to contest the hit when the runt #9 is going to feed it into the second row anyway?

 

[TOCC]

The referees and their inconsistent pause between "Touch" and "Pause", and "Pause" and "Engage" have a lot to answer for the mess with ALL teams scrums this year.

At the best of times forward packs are relatively simple things, and they need simple instructions. They are not getting these from the match officials.

Inconsistent power hungry referees who have never played in Front Rows are ruining the scrum as a contest, and IMHO are contributing to making the scrum more dangerous than it need be.

The way they do NOT police cheating runt halfback illegal feeds to the scrum makes you wonder why the keep pretending that the scrum is a genuine contest.

Why bother trying to contest the hit when the runt #9 is going to feed it into the second row anyway?

yes yes, there are discrepancies when it comes to the refs and scrum time, however its also the Wallabies scrum's lack of ability to react to these discrepancies and perform as the other top scrummagine nations have which is the problem..

Slipper was a definite positive to come out of the spring tour, whether he will be ready by 2011 RWC is debatable but he has displayed his potential, in a few years and a bit more bulk he will be a intimidating opponent.

 

[Langthorne]

Bill Young provides some food for thought:

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/u...-for-wallabies-scrum-woes-20101127-18blp.html

I would have to agree that Slipper is not yet there, but his improvement is the big positive this season.

 

[Scotty]

And then our back turns on a record performance murdering the French backline ... Well done boys ....

I played this game for 20 years as a forward and when I see the Aussie forward smashed I hang my head .... Please please get Robinson back in the starting 15 ... In my opinion young Slipper is a great sub but not a starter ... 10 months to the World Cup .... Im sure a little scrummaging practise wont go astray

You played the game as a forward for 20 years, and you think Slipper was the problem today? You sure you watched the same game.

 

[cyclopath]

Bill Young provides some food for thought:

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/u...-for-wallabies-scrum-woes-20101127-18blp.html

I would have to agree that Slipper is not yet there, but his improvement is the big positive this season.

The rest of the world would be hard pressed to take Bill seriously, I mean the king of the turn in and bore manoeuvre?

 

[S120]

Robinson coming on was the turning point. When he is on song and focused he is a very good prop and can out-scrummage just about any TH. I don't think Slipper is ready to be a starting LH but I liked what I saw of him at TH with Robbo at LH. Benny Alexander really struggled in the scrums this Tour. Could be a side affect of the long term injury he had, not sure, but Moore-Robinson-Alexander were very good last Spring Tour so we know they can do it. I think Bill Young has a point when he says Alexander going from starting LH at the Brumbies to TH for the Wallabies can't be helping.

Lawrence's huge gap between pause and engage didn't help either. And penalising from the very start of the game for jumping the gun was pretty harsh. Let the front rows get used to your calls FFS.

 

[Langthorne]

The question is: Does he make valid points? Does he raise pertinent questions? I think he does. One that cannot be disputed is that Young is scrum coach at the Brumbies, and that the Brumbies believe Alexander to be their best LHP and accordingly, will play him at LHP - it is the Wallaby coaches who are playing him out of position.

 

[cyclopath]

The question is: Does he make valid points? Does he raise pertinent questions? I think he does. One that cannot be disputed is that Young is scrum coach at the Brumbies, and that the Brumbies believe Alexander to be their best LHP and accordingly, will play him at LHP - it is the Wallaby coaches who are playing him out of position.

Fair enough, maybe they are. It worries me when an article like this makes the point (twice) about how good a try-scorer the prop is, and how playing him at THP takes that away. Underlines the fundamental attitudinal cancer we face. Get the set piece right, then worry about the fancy-pantsy stuff like try scoring. I know work-rate around the park is great, but 1 prop crapping on about another prop scoring tries? Give me a break.