May the best scrum win
The All Blacks put props up for media yesterday, so no prizes for guessing what this story’s going to be about. That’s right; goalkicking. No, it’s scrummaging Wyatt Crockett and Charlie Faumuina excell in and that was graphically illustrated during the second half of Saturday’s test against the British and Irish Lions. The pair were an integral part of the massive scrum that led to Rieko Ioane’s first try, at a time when the match was still in the balance.
Beauden Barrett converted from wide out to make the score 20-8 and the decisive advantage had been secured.
Only there wasn’t much of that in the pre-match script. Everyone assumed the Lions would enjoy the set-piece supremacy, with the All Blacks hoping not to be embarrassed.
Instead it was the Lions who were left with red faces and some ground to make up, when the teams meet in the second test at Westpac Stadium on Saturday.
‘‘It was a good contest,’’ Crockett said. ‘‘The scrums were a pretty tough battle and we’ve been working really hard as a group and we’ll continue to do that. We’re reasonably happy with the weekend, but we’ll just try and get better for next week as well.’’
You can’t overstate just how much was expected from the Lions’ scrum. They tickled up many of their Super Rugby opponents on this trip, not to mention New Zealand Maori.
So much of their play is built off the back of the scrums, not least the kicks at goal it often generates. The Lions do things rather differently to New Zealand sides, but it’s nothing Crockett and the All Blacks haven’t seen on the international stage before.
Former England prop Graham Rowntree oversees that part of the Lions’ game and his body of work precedes him.
‘‘It’s a little bit of an English influence there, with Rowntree as their scrums coach. We’ve talked about a few of the things the English do,’’ said Crockett.
One reason those tactics weren’t so effective last Saturday could’ve been South African referee Jaco Peyper. He’s well-known to the All Blacks and the interpretations of southern and northern hemisphere refs do vary. Jerome Garces, of France, will control the test at Westpac Stadium, before fellow Frenchman Romain Poite does the honours in the final game at Eden Park.
‘‘As long as we stick to our processes and do our things well, then we’ll take the referee out of it and hopefully he won’t have too much of an influence,’’ Crockett said.
People tend to pay their money to see Barrett and his fellow backs run the ball, rather than the forwards dominate. But you can’t have one without the other.
‘‘For us up front, we’ve got all these flash backs [but] if we don’t get our set-piece right and [aren’t] winning the contact and all that kind of stuff, then it’s a tough night for those guys,’’ Faumuina said.