Scrum - Wallabies Vs Wales

[JJJ]

It's a shame you can't access the footage from the overhead cameras they use in some of those UK stadiums. I'd love to watch an entire game on those, but they'd be especially useful in analysing scrums. I wonder if coaches have access to the footage for their post-match reviews?

 

[fatprop]

It's a shame you can't access the footage from the overhead cameras they use in some of those UK stadiums. I'd love to watch an entire game on those, but they'd be especially useful in analysing scrums. I wonder if coaches have access to the footage for their post-match reviews?

It is one of the reasons I like sitting up high at the SFS and ANZ, you get to see the manoeuvrings

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

When the need arises? BH, I think you're either preaching through understatement or you missed the game last saturday. The need arose when the ref called "engage".

I am prone to the occasional hyperbolic understatement.

 

[JJJ]

Is it possible that the scrummaging fiasco in Cardiff was simply a ruse to prevent England coming up with a Plan B? A feigned retreat to lure England into an ill-considered charge on the row of MIGHTY CANNONS which is our real front-row?

Cant...quite...grasp...straws...

 

[Reddy!]

I think it's time to re-unite the tri-pod.

 

[Lee Grant]

I think that for all the pissing and moaning about our front row stocks that there has been little said about the quality of scrummaging locks. The aforementioned article touches on it,

I wonder if it would be worth switching out one of the locks on the weekend, as well as getting the back rowers to stay on and push when the need arises.

Some people have mentioned the importance of scrummaging locks but it never excited a lot of comment. With folks just talking about the front row you'd think we were talking about 7s and the three men each they have in their scrums.

That is a good article and the mention of our locks not binding properly is apt. I think that we all remember that overhead shot at HQ a few years ago when Sheridan drove through not only our THP and hooker, but also our two locks.

I don't think Sharpie will do any good as a TH lock as he has always played on the left hand side of the scrum IIRR, except for this year for the Force. In that egregious scrum at HQ poor old 3M was the TH lock and his bind on Sharpe was breached.

As one has mentioned a few times: TH lock is a specialist scrummaging spot and Big Kev is sorely missed.

I had not noticed what the article said: that our locks have a practice of not binding strongly on each other. I thought they bound with both arms as strongly as possible notwithstanding the example mentioned above. It's no wonder they look like windshield wipers from above, if that is the case.

Even non-experts like myself can see the meerkating of the back rowers but it's chicken and the egg stuff. They do it knowing that the other scrum is so dominant that they will have to be ready to go for an attack using the great ball.

Maybe they won't against England and realise that the back row, and especially the 8, plays a big role on the hit and then the drive, if drive there be, or countering the opponent's drive.

Wales did the right thing and just kept pushing forward until the penalty came. There was a longer game too they were thinking about generating a yellow card from repeated offences and they nearly got one. Gatland would have had this plan since watching our guys against England in Oz.

This will be Plan A of the England team against us also - the generation of PKs and YCs. It's what they do, and what they should do.

I'm no more a fan of Ma'food than anyone else is

That's funny.

 

[Scotty]

I have a question that pertains to this discussion. Can anyone think of another instance in any sport in the world where you are penalised for not being good enough?

Australia weren't good enough against Wales so they were penalised. I can't (off the top of my head) think of an area of a game where a team is penalised for not being good enough (normally it is for foul play, or trying to cheat the rules).

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

We've been penalised plenty of time for not binding properly, pulling down the scrum or being too quick on the engage all because we're not good enough It's still cheating and frankly bloody embarrassing.

 

[RugbyReg]

I have a question that pertains to this discussion. Can anyone think of another instance in any sport in the world where you are penalised for not being good enough?

Australia weren't good enough against Wales so they were penalised. I can't (off the top of my head) think of an area of a game where a team is penalised for not being good enough (normally it is for foul play, or trying to cheat the rules).

AFL and behinds?

 

[RugbyReg]

oh sorry, that's rewarded for not being good enough.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

We're good at that in Australia. Handicapping racing (both at the gee gees and the Stawell Gift) are good examples, as are the draft and salary caps in the footy codes.

 

[Lee Grant]

TBH

I don't think being too quick on the engage is necessarily cheating. Since our scrum is weak an engage right on the money on our put in can cover over a lot of cracks, especially if the ball can get back quickly. It's worth the risk.

They should go easy on the opponents put in though. They are likely to win their own ball comfortably even if they miss the hit; so it is not wise to test the referees patience on every scrum else he escalates to PKs. Use the risk of early hits wisely.

Not to the point: but I was watching a recording of the Hong Kong test when our blokes were warned about early hits before the first scrum after oranges. Rolland had already escalated to PKs against us in the 1st half so I was willing the boys to be conservative.

What happened? On the next 7 scrums they hit early - but so did the dumbhead Blacks who should have let us do it alone and get a yellow card.

It was bloody funny listening to Rolland calling engage when they were already into Round 2 of the wrestling match.

As I said: not to the point.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

Lee, fair enough. We wouldn't need to go early if we were more secure in our scrum platform though.

 

[Rob42]

TBH

...Not to the point: but I was watching a recording of the Hong Kong test when our blokes were warned about early hits before the first scrum after oranges. Rolland had already escalated to PKs against us in the 1st half so I was willing the boys to be conservative.

What happened? On the next 7 scrums they hit early - but so did the dumbhead Blacks who should have let us do it alone and get a yellow card.

It was bloody funny listening to Rolland calling engage when they were already into Round 2 of the wrestling match.

As I said: not to the point.

Lee - were you watching on Ch7? The sound and pictures for me were horribly out of sync, with the sound a couple of seconds behind. Very distracting at scrum time, but yes, it definitely looked like both sides were driving forward simultaneously most of the time.

 

[Lee Grant]

No my comments were about the Fox Sports commentary though I recorded the 7 coverage and watched that the next day. When the ref was speaking to players the audio seemed to be in synch but the engage certainly wasn't.

 

[Rothschild]

Just wondering where you got that quote from, Rothschild. I am not questioning that it was said, just interested in the source.

Well actually, from the scrum coach via a player

 

[Bruce Ross]

Well actually, from the scrum coach via a player

Thanks

 

[Brumbies Guy]

I have a question that pertains to this discussion. Can anyone think of another instance in any sport in the world where you are penalised for not being good enough?

Australia weren't good enough against Wales so they were penalised. I can't (off the top of my head) think of an area of a game where a team is penalised for not being good enough (normally it is for foul play, or trying to cheat the rules).

The follow-on in test cricket
A safety in NFL
... Boxing hurts, does a broken nose count as a penalty?

 

[Gagger]

Here's what I saw

[video=youtube;sKRJy9ql0yQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKRJy9ql0yQ[/video]

 

[Lee Grant]

That's some great work there Gagger - thanks a lot.

I wrote elsewhere that the big disappointment for me at Cardiff was the contrast between how our scrum performed there and how they did in the same game in 2009, and your video makes the comparison stark. It's all the more disappointing because many of the same players were involved and we had the same coach.

We all rabbited on about the scrum earlier in the year and how Alexander and Robinson would make it better, but they didn't, and we have agonised over the other things that have to be done better. But now it's just down to the lads to get back to where they were 12 months ago.

I liked your remarks about Sharpe. It wasn't long ago that people pilloried him on the forum and sometimes with some heat. He seagulled too much sometimes but one always knew that he was one of the first ones written down on the team sheet every week - and it was for the reasons you mentioned. When the posts got more strident one just wagged one's head knowing they would move onto somebody else and they did.

As you indicate: he would be the player most missed by the Wallabies if he were injured. IIRR I wrote that soon after Horwill was hurt in the Super14, and if I didn't, I should have.