Firstly the biggest hurdle Ladesma had with the Wallaby scrum wasn't even with the players, it was with the perception of the scrum from the officials. To overcome that they had to be so obviously pushing straight and staying up and binding correctly. Early engagements can be forgiven as wanting to get into the contest as long as it is not happening repeatedly.
That is where the traditional Argentine approach really came into its own and the Wallabies adopted the set up and a few personnel changes to bring some consistency to the scrum. The system has been broken down since the RWC because the Wallabies in having to play and appear to play by the rules lest their prior perceptions come back to haunt them again get dusted by teams that use the dark arts effectively and generally not get penalised for doing so because the perception of them is one of strength. Also since the RWC Moore has faded quickly and no loose head has really stepped up and the same can be said of the second row until the last few tests.
So in terms of the scrum Ladesma I think has done an exceptional job with the starting players, but as with a lot of Australian rugby below key starting players development has been very poor. AAA is a long way below Kepu, Sio has taken a long time to recover from his injury and still is not dominant as he was in 2015, while Robinson has regressed. I am disappointed that the rest of the Australian players do not seem to have progressed at all and in some cases have gone backwards. How much of that is Ladesma's fault and how much down to the poor coaching at the Tahs, Reds, and Rebels in particular.
Secondly, as for Stiles, honestly he needs to go back to being an assistant provincial coach and prove again he can get the forwards firing. I am not convinced and if he got the gig I'd just be very suspicious it was an ARU gimme to the Reds so they don't have to pay out yet another coach they don't have the cash for.
