Ref Carley ignores the mind games

THE scrum war instigated by a Welsh campaign to highlight French ‘illegalities’ ahead of last weekend’s clash thankfully failed to get the match officials to prosecute the visiting front row. When the Welsh loosehead Wyn Jones said France would “hit and chase and cheat” at the scrum, it is almost certain he did so with the approval of head coach Wayne Pivac. Fabien Galthie’s counter-attack that the Welsh lacked respect “for our scrum, our team, for French rugby, but also for our nation”, was over the top, but his frustration was because the so-called French crime is commonplace, as are the accusations that most props are packing on the angle. The explanations for this are the physics of the scrum, where the tighthead is bound-in, and the loosehead has his left shoulder on the outside of the scrum.

This means there is a tendency for looseheads to be forced out unless they compensate by pushing inwards, which should be acceptable as long as they are not angling on a diagonal across the scrum. Tightheads should push straight, with their power transmitted between the opposing loosehead and hooker.

This was highlighted when the Welsh scrum siege late in the game was lifted by young French tighthead Demba Bamba. Bamba kept a straight line as Welsh loosehead Rob Evans sheared off, and won a match-winning, penalty. Pivac insisted that Bamba had angled across, even though the evidence contradicted him. Credit to referee Matt Carley for acting on what was in front of him, rather than being influenced by pre-match propaganda.