We sure do take our scrummaging seriously these days, so when a few calls went against the Wallabies on the weekend, we decided to take a closer look…..
Share on Facebook
Tags: al baxter, scrums, video analysis, youtube
Video analysis: Aussie scrum vs France
Tags: al baxter, scrums, video analysis, youtube
About the Author
Matt a.k.a Gagger or GAGR (short for GreenAndGoldRugby, not a fetish)
Matt started G&GR just before the 2007 Rugby World Cup and has been enslaved ever since. You can follow him on Twitter here http://www.twitter.com/Matt_Gagger 
Even chanell seven commentary got this right. How come when the scrum collapses on the opposite side to the ref he doesn’t change sides for the reset?
the second to last scrum shown (Wallabies feed) the frogs LHP lines up so close to the Fuse that there is hardly even a hit. they’re already almost touching at the positioning. i think he got shy of Big Al.
If you look at the joint angles of the two props prior to the engage it is obvious where the potential for collapse lies.
The angles of Baxter’s knee and hip joints are about 90°; his back is straight and his hips are slightly below his shoulders. He is in an effective crouch position and ready to drive forward horizontally or slightly upward by extending both joints simultaneously.
By contrast, Barcella has a knee joint angle of about 100° and a hip joint angle of about 70°. His back is rounded and as he engages with Baxter his only degree of freedom is to open the knee joint, elevating his hips above his shoulders. This predisposes him to fold at the hip joint and pitch head first to the ground.
In fact the entire French front row can be seen to have folded in the same manner.
It took Baxter many seasons to learn how to scrummage effectively but he is now very competent technically.
This video highlights the importance of front rowers being able to crouch with knee and hip joint angles approximately equal, but it also clearly shows the hinging effect produced by lazy or incompetent front rowers who basically just bend at the hips with very limited knee bend.
.-= Bruce Ross´s last blog ..Scatter-gun or clustering―where is the logical location for Australian rugby’s fifth Super franchise? =-.
Nice stuff Bruce
Great analysis Bruiser