The dominant Aussie scrum
It was a thrill to watch an Australian team dominate at scrum time and against an Argentine side, at that.
If you are thinking test matches: no, it does not apply. The domination happened in a Junior World Championship [JWC] match in Pukekohe.
If we didn’t know it already, we could see the effect on a game of a good scrum; this time from the other side of the fence.
This switch in fortunes resulted from a selection and training programme that was light-years ahead of what they did for past JWCs, and could not be faulted.
Last year players were picked for a training squad in Canberra without having to earn their selection through trials. They were whittled down from camp hit-outs for a second camp during which they played against Papua New Guinea. After that game the final squad was chosen.
It was a different process in 2014. The Under 20 Aussies had been training together with their state since October 2013. The NSW and Queensland lads had trials to be selected in their state side for a national competition. The youngsters from the rest of the country had their own early tournament in Adelaide to pick a Combined States side for the nationals.
The nationals were a great microscope to put the players under. Head Coach Adrian Thompson and fellow selectors picked an extended squad for their first camp in Queensland and trimmed it down to 28 after two matches against Samoa U20s.
They played two games during the second camp in Sydney against senior players, and having won all four contests from both camps they headed for New Zealand.
By this time they could scrummage.
By my count they had eleven scrums in the opening game: they received a penalty kick for one and they got their ball from all the others. Sometimes their ball was gained after being under pressure, but some scrums were perfect and only one was shaky.
My tally for Argentina was eleven scrums also. They received a penalty kick for an Aussie walk-about and had one against them after an Aussie second shove. Four times their scrum ball was good. Australia won the other five Argentine scrums against the head.
It is rumoured that the NZ Government is checking all the Aussie passports.
