Stevens is really a THP and a pretty damn good one but LHP Sheridan was a big loss for England when he went home injured.
There are so may foreign props playing in the English Premiership that England are not well stocked with premier LHPs. Stevens, considered a better LHP than Corbisiero, who is nothing special, now has the 1 jersey. He played a lot at LHP after he returned from his drug suspension for Saracens early in the calendar year and did OK, but he was always going to have trouble against a decent international scrum and especially directly against Murray if he hds one of his good days, which he did.
I rate the Pom THP Cole though; he can drive.
Loved that spider camera - you can really see the arses moving sideways illegally, but you could also see the malign effect of the power hit from the normal side-on camera.
Nobody can claim that getting rid of the power hit is going to solve all the scrummaging problems because pro players will be a lot more cynical and will test the referees more than the amateurs ever did from a fairly static engage.
However I think the static engage will make it easier for referees to see the illegalities.
Am I sure? Hell no, I have seen too many law changes and ELVs that looked good, sounded good and smelled good but didn't work good; but I'll tell you one thing: I sure as hell want to find out if abolishing the power hit will reduce the number of collapses and/or increases the number of minutes of rugby that we see in the 80.
Let's give it a go.
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