Who has the strongest scrum so far?

[austingtir]

Argentina clearly have the best first choice scrum. BUT they are now down a quality lock so that will make a big difference because their replacements arent of the same level. Their first choice front row is about the best getting around.

England cheats to much to be considered. Their props bore in and and up constantly at twiks.... and of course they get away with it.

NZ potentially is second or third if we dont select Woodcock and maybe even O franks. And go with a less weedy lock than whitelock.

 

[ncurd]

Just about everyone cheats at the scrum there's a reason it's referred to as the dark arts. England are just better at conning the ref than others. They are the Richie McCaw of the scrummaging world.

*tosses grenade and runs*

 

[French TommyGun]

Just about everyone cheats at the scrum there's a reason it's referred to as the dark arts. England are just better at conning the refirst than others. They are the Richie McCaw of the scrummaging world.

*tosses grenade and runs*

Hahaha that's right give the pot a good stir!
The only difference is Cheaty McCaw cheats all day long and the world praises him as gods gift to rugby! I don't think Joe Marler will get that kind of love for his cheating.

 

[kesh]

That's what caused me to make the thread man. It will be interesting to see what effect this has on reffing of the scrum. Canny media work by the Aussies it has to be said.

They're thrashing us in the pre-game PR stakes. No one mentions Wale's scrummaging deficiencies in the replays and that they were playing with a weakened front row.

 

[TRF_heineken]

I don't want to throw the spanner in the pipeworks here... But this topic would be a lot different if the Scrums were policed correctly...

Not feeding straight, Scrumming inwards, illegal binding, poor referee judgement, etc... All giving teams an unfair advantage at the scrums and making the beauty of the scrum a bit of a farce.

 

[kesh]

Nigel Owen's made a offhand comment/joke about teams not feeding straight in a scrum tutorial recently, that makes you wonder how high a priority certain infringements are to certain ref's. Suppose in itself (studying/playing the ref) is part of the game.

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

Well with our (SA) spent forces of Mtawarira and Jannie du Plessis we do well enough to hold on. With Nyakane and Malherbe starting we can talk about entering top 5. If we didn't leave them at home and brought along Kitshoff and Koch we'd be top 5 and the more bias of us would be talking top 3 maybe.

 

[psychic duck]

Why are people saying England? We were put to shame by France, lost against Ireland, even Fiji had a small upper hand on us, and we only did well against Wales because Garces didn't seem to see the blatant cheating by Marler.

France have the most impressive scrum I've seen.

Because up until the recent warm ups England had been the most dominant force at scrum over the previous 12 months. They booted out their best scrummaging hooker though, and reduced the power at lock with Parling instead of Launchbury or Attwood, and didn't do all that well against France and Ireland who are two of the other best sides at scrum in the world. Also Marler destroyed Wales, it's just a pre game Aussie propaganda line to try and make out it was all illegal. Wales couldn't hold the pressure. Also Argentina have the most overrated scrum in the world, when was the last time they really took it to a European scrum?

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Argentina clearly have the best first choice scrum. BUT they are now down a quality lock so that will make a big difference because their replacements arent of the same level. Their first choice front row is about the best getting around.

England cheats to much to be considered. Their props bore in and and up constantly at twiks.... and of course they get away with it.

Their tighthead couldn't hold Nariashvili last week.

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Nigel Owen's made a offhand comment/joke about teams not feeding straight in a scrum tutorial recently, that makes you wonder how high a priority certain infringements are to certain ref's. Suppose in itself (studying/playing the ref) is part of the game.

Referees have been told to allow feeding. It would be foolish to think they just don't see it. Of course they do, but have been told it is allowed on safety grounds as hookers can't hook apparently. That has led to a farce of the official law book actually still stating what WR themselves don't want applied but there you go.

 

[dragos03]

The Romanian scrum dominated the French one (their reserves but still very good scrummagers) in the direct match, yet almost nobody seems to have noticed

 

[kesh]

Nice to get some clarity on that psychic duck. Recall now when the feed was mentioned a lot when hookers were saying they couldn't er hook with the rule changes. So it's a law but it isn't, like offensive obstruction, unless it's blatantly obvious.

 

[PacDuran]

Wales' scrum is diabolical. Fiji just had them running backward at a rate of knots.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Don't know about strongest but most impoverished goes to Fiji and Japan for me.

Meant improved god damn it not impoverished.

 

[PacDuran]

Meant improved god damn it not impoverished.

Racism!

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Meant improved god damn it not impoverished.

Racism!

 

[Maverick1987]

I think it has to be Wales' scrum tbh . Imagine having a car with more power in reverse than drive .....

 

[Toko_11]

I think it has to be Wales' scrum tbh . Imagine having a car with more power in reverse than drive .....

hmm soo if they stand butt first they should give a good push ?!

I agree with Dragos I think Romania has the best scrum in the world atm.. They could put anyone in reverse.. England, Argentina, Ireland.. doesn't matter. I know The French were woeful but the oaks have been focusing on the scrum strength for the last 4 years... I expect them to Beat Italy and Ireland scrums (although now that they lost Tonita it could go differently)

 

[big ginger 8]

But the Irish scrum had the better of the Romanian scrum...

 

[Toko_11]

But the Irish scrum had the better of the Romanian scrum...

Fair enough but don't you think 3 day turn around had some major effect on that ?

 

[PacDuran]

Can someone knowledgable about the scrum explain to me how a pack of Wales' incredible weight can be put in reverse like that?

What is the point of playing this Tomas Francis guy? He's 21 and a half stone but he can't scrum a lick, neither can Gethin Jenkins.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Can't get low enough and when up against a more technical scrum will get dismantled.

 

[ncurd]

Wales lost all scrummaging ability with the removal of the hit.

There are still massive things that can be but at least the more technically proficient side tends to win now.