A tale of two scrums
Which lily-livered former back said the scrum was not important?
Well, I hope they were watching the All Blacks v France and Australia v Ireland Test matches this weekend.
Both games pivoted on vital scrums. The French were well and truly in the game, leading 11-8 at halftime and were playing superbly, shutting down the All Blacks across the field.
But then, their scrum was detonated in the 48thminute and it was all downhill from there. The deflation of France was quickly added to with a lineout turnover in the 49th minute and a dubious yellow card for a head high tackle in the 50th minute.
The All Blacks kicked up a gear and scored 44 unanswered points from the 52nd minute to win handsomely 52-11. But the rot started for me when the French scrum suddenly disintegrated in the, which marked the point where Les Bleus put up the white flag.
Though not as significant as the sudden collapse of the French scrum, the Wallabies scrum in the 67th minute still proved very important.
The game was in the balance until the Wallabies literally drove back the Irish scrum at pace, completely dominating them. The Wallaby scrum, so maligned in Europe, dominating the best Northern Hemisphere had to offer.
This gave a huge lift to the players – with Ireland leading 9-8 at this stage – as the Wallabies went on to win 18-9.
Credit the French for providing the blueprint for beating the All Blacks; any team playing them this year will look to that first half for guidance.
Michael Cheika will be studying this period of great French play with interest.
First of all, you must have parity in scrums, lineouts and re-starts, in which the French were rock solid.
You must then dominate the tackle area. The French first-up tackles were superb, they were driving the All Black ball carriers back behind the gain line, stopping the quick ball and shutting down their up-tempo game.
The French forwards were combative and very physical at the breakdown. Wallabies take note, the pick and go still exists and is not illegal, Les Bleus employed it with great effect.
The French rush defence from set piece and phase play paired with the big-hitting first up tackles lasted for 48 minutes, shutting down All Black attacking options and any thought of an up-tempo game.
If I was in charge of Ireland for the second test in Melbourne next weekend, I would also look to the example of the first half French performance to shut down the Wallabies.
The Irish need to limit the Wallabies width and slow their up-tempo game. They need their rush defence to be rock solid and make first-up tackles to deny reaching the gain line.
The Wallabies never attack near the ruck so the Irish just need to stack one pass off and belt the ball carrier back. The Irish also have a good lineout and can pinch some turnovers in that area.
The Irish should – like the French – load the ruck and pick and go. One pass off the ruck for 19 phases like the Brisbane test is easy to defend for the Wallabies; the Australian teams do it every weekend in Super Rugby.
As for who stood out among the Wallabies, David Pocock was superb last night.
I don’t like his politics, but he can certainly play. His 49th minute turnover was a standout and stopped a dangerous Irish attack in its tracks.
I think the disallowing of Folau’s try in the 60th minute was a disgrace and reinforces my impression that those running the game would like handbags at 10 paces for the direction of rugby.
Adam Coleman tackled a decoy runner in back play and referee Marius van der Westhuizen deemed it dangerous play. The incident had no effect on the try and it is debatable whether it was dangerous. A woeful decision and no doubt would have features in the news if the Wallabies had lost.
Next week in Melbourne is the second test, where the Irish will be looking to level the series.
The Irish will do their homework and come back stronger; I’m predicting a very tight game again and one that will be hard to pick.
The All Blacks take on France in Wellington next weekend for their second test, where I think they will pile on a half-century once again.
In other news:
Comments on RugbyPass
An on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
24 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
24 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
24 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
24 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
11 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to comments