Meanwhile, over at Scrum.com, Gordon Bray is making some good articles like
this one. He makes a good point in this one that the Wallabies took better options than in Scotland; instead of running useless backline moves with no result, they sensibly took the points and field position. And he's right,
the scrum was quite strong, and not just by "Australian Standards".
Konze usually writes quite judicious comments and I have always liked Gordon Bray, although I would not consider him an authority on the scrum, so I went to the link with considerable interest. Here are Gordon's comments on the scrum contest:
"The pivotal moment of Australia's match against Italy in Florence loomed squarely on the shoulders of rookie prop James Slipper. Under the referee's nose, would he hold firm or buckle against scrum behemoth Martin Castrogiovanni?
"In the sixth minute of the second half, Australian rugby fans held their collective breath. Another scrum penalty could help reduce Italy's deficit to one point. Would this be a re-run of the horror show against Scotland twelve months earlier? No sir. Penalty Australia! The Italian strongman eventually forced to 'bore in' as Slipper and his seven scrum pals withstood the eight man shove as though their lives were on the line.
"Italy had to slow the tempo and they did it via an injury parade just before scrums were due to be set. As an Italian player received attention, his forwards regrouped in a huddle for the next eight man assault on the young Slipper. Assisted by his awesome reputation as a powerhouse scrum technician, Castrogiovanni won over the referee's mind and as a result, a spate of penalties against Slipper for taking the scrum down, altered the course of the match.
"This alleged practice only transpired on Italy's feed because they wanted to engage the Australian scrum in a prolonged wrestle. Curiously, there was no such collapse on the Wallaby scrum feed which was more solid than at any stage on tour."
Obviously watching games after midnight is becoming a problem for me as I wake up with an entirely different perspective on games than other people. Gordon tells us that in the first scrum of the second half "The Italian strongman [was]
eventually forced to 'bore in' as Slipper and his seven scrum pals withstood the eight man shove." Eventually? My perception was that was what he had been doing all through the first half, which was when we TV viewers got to see the contest between Castrogiovanni and Slipper. Our man didn't seem to have a clue as to what to do about it.
Gordon makes no mention whatever of the number of times the Italians walked our scrum backwards, seemingly at will. It is true that there were a few scrums where we managed to hold our ground, but there can't have been many once you subtract from the total number the scrums where Castrogiovanni split our loose head and hooker asunder and those where we roller skated backwards.
I can't remember the last time I disagreed with The Konze but his comment that "the scrum was quite strong, and not just by 'Australian Standards'" suggests that it is time I had my medication reviewed.
