Aus Babas v. Poms

[David]

It makes me laugh when poor old or young front rowers get flogged in the media or here. Isn't the scrum an 8 man effort. It seems to me that once our scrum started moving backwood the no.6,7 and 8 lift their heads stop pushing and scrum then is forced to retreat further that is, now 8 against 5 - unbeatable and "looks" terrible

Would have thought bthat most of the "push" is to come from 4,5 and 8 - the props have to get their hit right and then the push exerted - if the push is not equal to the other team then backwards we go. Therefore should not a lot of blame be directed at the other 5 blokes and not JUST the props

You are partially correct, but you must remember that the prop must be able to take the hit and continue to hold up the scrum. The 4, 5 and 8 definitely help and a good tight 5 is important but the prop has to be able to take the hit and hold up the scrum otherwise, you could have 15 people in the scrum and it would still fail if the prop fails. Conversely a good prop can not only get the hit can hold up the scrum, he can use sneaky (and often illegal) techniques to nullify the opposition hit/force a scrum penalty.

I am but a back, so this is a simplified version of scrummaging (and quite possibly wrong).

 

[RugbyReg]

its not the locks and backrow dropping binds and collapsing on impact though.

 

[David]

I have been watching the scrummaging and the reffing of scrummaging at club level very carefully this year and I have noticed the refs just have no clue. From the sideline you might see clearly an opposition prop driving in on the hooker, or standing up, dropping their bind or hinging, I could go on. The refs just have no idea, so then you see the front row having to adjust by having the hooker drive in on the offending prop, or have the second rowers double crouch bind on the hooker (which I believe is illegal). All this because the ref can't effectively rule on one of the most important parts of the game, so you would have to assume this is at least partially the reason why out scrums suck.

 

[#1 Tah]

15. Peter Hynes (Queensland Reds)
14. Nick Cummins (Western Force)
13. Will Chambers (Queensland Reds)
12. Anthony Fainga'a (Queensland Reds)
11. Lachie Turner (NSW Waratahs)
10. Kurtley Beale (NSW Waratahs)
9. Josh Valentine (Brumbies)
8. Stephen Hoiles (Brumbies, captain)
7. Pat McCutcheon (NSW Waratahs)
6. Ben McCalman (Western Force)
5. Rob Simmons (Queensland Reds)
4. Mitchell Chapman (Brumbies)
3. Laurie Weeks (Queensland Reds)
2. Tatafu Polota-Nau (NSW Waratahs)
1. Pekahou Cowan (Western Force)

Run on reserves:
16. Huia Edmonds (Brumbies)
17. James Slipper (Queensland Reds)
18. Mark Chisholm (Brumbies)
19. Matt Hodgson (Western Force)
20. Luke Burgess (NSW Waratahs)
21. Berrick Barnes (NSW Waratahs)
22. James O’Connor (Western Force)

Beale at 10???

my only other worry is Barnes on the bench, which means Steve Hoiles get to square up against Steve Walsh......

This is not looking good.....

But at least the live stream is Sydney time!

 

[Lee Grant]

Good to see Rob Simmons is fit to play again.

I'm going to the game but do any of you gurus know how to record the live stream by setting it up hours before? Alternatively does anybody know if the live stream can be started hours later - which means it wouldn't be live so I have probably answered my own question.

And PS on the test match and switching to the Pom commentators - I assume that was only on the Fox Sports web site, not using one of the control buttons on TV. Correct?