Again? It’s 23 minutes into the Blues v Reds game and Rob Simmons has just given away his third penalty. The mind quickly flashes back to his totally needless yellow card for the Wallabies against the Pumas in Argentina last year. You can’t beat the All Blacks like this.
I then foolishly chose to watch the Brumbies get pantsed by the Crusaders, in the course of which G&GR darling Scott Fardy conceded no fewer than five penalties to take his season tally to 17. (More about this in the next article).
What is it about locks and penalties? In fact, what are locks even for? It’s very obvious watching internationally that the role of locks is changing rapidly. A lot of teams are now throwing as much or more ball to the back row, corroding the locks’ major reason for existing even a decade ago. Only two out of the top six lineout takers in Super Rugby this year are locks, for instance. A key reason for England’s resurgence over the last six months has been that they’re just getting much more out of their locks (other than penalties) by insisting on a more diverse skill set.
Ewen McKenzie will have been thinking about his locks a lot. The Simmons-Horwill combination is tried and tested, but a lot of other options have been emerging recently. After having to play Sita Timani last year, even after he’d committed to going overseas, Ewen will be doing whatever he does in place of actually smiling.
The table says a lot. Luke Jones has been hugely impressive this year. Moreover, unlike Hugh Pyle (for instance), Jones has been playing like a traditional lock – most of those runs are in the tight, not in the 5m channel. There’s no trade-off with Jones either: workrate and power, you get them both. He’s made 50% more runs than any lock in the comp and twice as many as several of his rivals.
Add in his understated role at lineout time and his ability to keep his discipline, and you’ve got a guy who should be wearing gold in June. The comparison with Kane Douglas here is particularly unflattering; Sam Carter also has a lot better numbers but far from the sort of physical presence the others offer.
As for the others, a lot comes down to balance. If Ben Mowen was staying around (and picked, far from a certainty) then what the locks offer at lineout time would be less important. Simmons wouldn’t be needed to run the lineout and the fact that Skelton is a non-entity there wouldn’t be a major consideration. But Mowen’s leaving. That could affect Skelton’s chances a lot; most teams at international level have four viable jumpers and he’s just a rock. Both Fardy and Higginbotham can play a key role at lineout time, but are they ready to take on the chief lineout responsibilities?
The other key column here is on the right. Simmons misses one in every ten tackles, Horwill and Jones both one in seven, Douglas and Skelton one in five. Retallick misses one in nineteen. The gold standard.
