PAYING THE PENALTY AT SCRUMS SO COSTLY TO OUTCOME
was only one scrum in the first half, albeit that one was a disaster for us, which meant the Springboks couldn’t really begin this process until the second half.
But as the minutes ticked by, the wearing down took its toll, we kept giving away scrum penalties, they were able to gain field position or kick for goal and it just strangled us out of the game.
Same with the Springboks’ driving maul, which we defended valiantly for the most part, but which eventually took its toll. We call this the tractor and trailer – the men in the front do the grunt, then the hooker at the back goes over for the score. Malcolm Marx has got 10 tries for South Africa doing this, again demonstrating it’s fundamental to how they want to play the game.
Look, criticising Wales’ scrum against South Africa is not fair in one way, given the Springboks are the masters.
But, by the same token, they are the team we should be aspiring to, given they are the world champions and they just get these basics right.
What’s the solution for us? It’s a change of mindset, I feel.
Someone like Carre may show up well in the loose, but Wyn Jones is a better choice at loosehead as he picked up the fundamentals of scrummaging in his early years whilst playing in the Welsh Premiership for Llandovery.
Believe me, those are the hard yards.
I just worry that as soon as someone shows something with ball in hand, the feeling is ‘He’s going to be a good prop’, whereas first and foremost we should be looking at someone’s ability at scrum time.
Props don’t really come into their own until well into their 20s, or, sometimes, even their 30s. But these days at development level it seems to me that if someone hasn’t made it by the time he’s a young age, then he’s discarded and the next one is tried.
I’d like to see these players nurtured, and indeed nurtured by someone with proper front-row experience. As is happening at Harlequins, where Adam Jones, as scrum coach, is a wonderful mentor to their props.
Perhaps it would be in the interests of every club to enlist a former frontrow forward as a ‘Scrum Guru’ given the number of penalties that are awarded at scrums and, of course, welfare issues.
To a degree I understand the selection of Carre to start against the Springboks, given they always bring on the Bomb Squad for the second half – more often than not their firstchoice front row, coming up against the opposition’s second choice by that stage.
But, for me, Wyn Jones is clearly Wales’ best loosehead and he should be starting, having done reasonably well against South Africa with the Lions.
Tomas Francis? When he first came in I thought it was as stand-in for a while for Samson Lee, but he has made the tighthead position his own. He’s deserved to keep his place. However, sometimes your performances plateau and everyone just had a bad day at the office on Saturday when it came to the scrum.
Francis came to prominence by playing well in the English system.
It’s interesting to note that, similarly, WillGriff John went off to continue his development by playing successfully in the English system before being noticed towards the end of his 20s.
It will also be interesting to see how he goes in the forthcoming games assuming he will, at least, be given an opportunity off the bench.
I do think, moving forward, there is something to be said for our frontrowers to play some Welsh Premiership rugby.
I used to take every opportunity to listen to the old front-row forwards in the clubhouse after a game, seeking the benefit of their experience. I doubt if players get those same opportunities today.
And that’s a shame.
In the short term, it’s down to Humphreys to fix these problems. Realistically, looking to the future, we’ll never be a match for the Springboks because the scrum is in their rugby DNA. and not ours.
But there are still steps I feel we can take to improve and ensure days like Saturday don’t happen again.
With a better scrum, Wales would have won the game. That’s how important it is.