Can these Lions move the world like Telfer?
THERE is no greater psychological weapon in Rugby Union than wrecking the opposition scrum. Smashing through their pack with an unstoppable driving maul comes a close second. The Lions were on the receiving end of both earlier in the week as the Highlanders hit the tourists where it hurts most -- in areas where they thought they would be a force to be reckoned with.
That is why it is essential that the failings we saw in the Lions pack against the Highlanders was an aberration rather than a sign that they are a set-piece horror show waiting to happen. It has to be the former if the 2017 Lions are going to have a prayer of winning the imminent Test series against New Zealand and thankfully there were better signs against the New Zealand Maoris.
That a Highlanders bench front-row which is unknown outside Dunedin was able to inflict such damage on a Lions put-in at a scrum so late in the game was match-turning. However, that they did it against a Lions replacement trio featuring seasoned internationals like Jack McGrath, Ken Owens and Dan Cole was a hammer blow.
As Aki Seuili got the jump on Cole, with the Highlanders back-up loosehead putting the Leicester man in reverse, it was not just that the Lions conceded a winning penalty turn-over on their own scrum put-in. The incident also put a dent in the prestige of the touring side, calling their physicality, determination, technique and pride into question.
There is also no doubt that moments like that one at the Forsyth Barr Stadium, along with the well- constructed but semi-opposed Highlanders line-out drive that saw hooker Liam Coltman barge over, can become symbolic as make or break turning points on Lions tours.
One of the concerns with any Lions tour is a lack of time in which to forge the steel bonds of cohesion and brotherhood which great packs are made of. This one, with its utter disregard for proper preparation by those who agreed the itinerary, has made it even harder.
However, while there is life there is hope, and in no sport more than this one. The Lions pack that held the upper hand against the Crusaders, bar one scrum, has the makings of a formidable pack -- but it will almost certainly have to be bolstered by the midweek men over the course of the series. And that is a clear concern based on the two midweek defeats.
However, collective will is a mighty force. It is also why the Lions coaching team led by Warren Gatland – and his assistant coaches responsible for the forwards, Steve Borthwick and Graham Rowntree – might bookmark the method used by Jim Telfer in 1997 to weld his forwards together.
Telfer believed there was a shortcut if you were prepared to adhere to the principle ‘no pain, no gain’. Hence the beasting session on the back pitches at Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria, at which I was one of a handful of Press witnesses.
Telfer ordered the forwards to put down 46 scrums in the space of 42 minutes, with sprints interspersed after every five. Those Lions forwards scrummaged against a scrum machine that had been secured by metal spikes hammered into the ground. When the hydraulic pads started to give under the assault, Telfer jumped onto the
“There can be no scrum slip-ups if the Lions are to get the upper hand over an NZ pack with few obvious faults”
machine like a man possessed to adjust the compressed air controls so that the pads pushed back.
As the session reached its apex of punishment Telfer roared, “Hold the world boys, hold the world!”. A moment later hooker Mark ‘Ronnie’ Regan let out an otherworldly bellow as he and his mates battled the machine for the last time – but when the pain was done the Lions forwards were a united force.
The Lions went into that three-Test series heavily outgunned physically by a massive Springbok front row anchored by Os du Randt while Ian McGeechan and Telfer selected their two smallest props, Tom Smith and Paul Wallace. However the bonds were so tight that they held the world, not giving an inch against the giant South African forwards, and striking a huge psychological blow in a winning series.
When I asked Steve Borthwick if Telfer’s flogging approach was still relevant he said said that the 2017 forwards have also been put through the mill.
“There are aspects of training here that are challenging the players. It’s putting players in pressurised situations where they learn – it's not about perfect training. Anybody who knows rugby knows there is a bond in a forward pack that is special, and to develop that is hard work. But that is happening now.”
Borthwick said there were signs against the Highlanders that the lineout drive was making headway. “We had two penalties against the Highlanders from three driving mauls.”
What he did not refer to was the scrum. It is an area to whch Borthwick, Gatland and Rowntree are bound to be giving forensic attention. The bitter experience of the Lions scrum being battered in the first Test defeat by South Africa in Durban on the 2009 tour will still be a barely healed wound for the two assistant coaches, who were on their first Lions tour.
Gatland and his forward experts know there can be no scrum slip-ups if they are to get the upper hand over a New Zealand pack, which under the tutelage of scrum guru Mike Cron, has few obvious fault-lines.