Now that I have the attention of every backline player, let’s talk scrumming!!
A recent article about the Aussie scrumming technique has prompted me to attempt to give you some insight into the make up of scrumming which is as much a discipline as it is one of the two options mentioned in the title. Although scrumming appears complex we need to simplify it in order to perfect it.
Scrumming correctly is about eight men all becoming one force that is technically efficient and knows exactly what the intention is at any particular scrum then works together in perfect timing.This force uses the ground as an anchor and transmits power through the legs, hips and shoulders onto the opposing force in order to create forward momentum. It therefore is logical to examine the basic building blocks required by each of the eight in order to contribute perfectly to this larger , technically skilled machine.
With the ground as the anchor, the legs start the transmission of power up and through the body therefore the legs need to be at the most efficient angle which is no more than 45 degrees to the body and often much less as the player needs to achieve a straight back that will transmit the power coming up from the legs into the shoulders. Basically the lower that a scrum can set itself up efficiently to transfer power this way, the better it will perform.
The importance of correct and tight binding cannot be over emphasised. A pack that is bound together correctly and tightly against a scrum machine will move that machine forward without any leg push but just by applying a squeeze on the bind that is timed together. In other words the bind and timed squeeze in itself generates forward momentum.
The timing of an eight man shove is most effective when all eight body positions and binds are correct. This is a discipline that can be practised with a squeeze of the bind and leg drive together creating a formidable forward momentum that acts as one and cannot easily be broken.
The front row deals with issues that are more technical than those already discussed. A scrum by its nature wants to turn clockwise on its axis and hence the importance of the tight head getting a good right shoulder to counter this. The tight head also has to deal with the disadvantage of having the opposing loose head scrum underneath him. He has the odds stacked against him and that is why tight head is technically the most difficult position to play on a rugby field. On his put in he must keep it steady and straight to ensure good ball. On the opposition put in he must put pressure on the loose head and hooker to give them bad ball. He can do this by scrumming into the wedge between the loosehead and hooker forcing them apart and creating forward momentum with his right shoulder. It is also natural for the tight head to want to take the loose head downwards which bends the loose heads back and means that he cannot scrum under and into the tight head.
The hooker needs to ensure good clean ball on his put in but is also important as a scrummager on the opposition put in. He can assist his tight head by putting pressure on the opposition hooker by scrumming with both legs back and working with his tight head.
The loose head needs to ensure good ball from a stable scrum on his put in. He has to fend off the attack of the tight head by scrumming under the tight head and driving pressure into the chest and ribs of the tight head. He will also attack the tight head this way on the opposition put in in order to give them bad ball.
Above are some of the basics of sound scrumming and the following are areas that we see too often in the modern game that need improvement
Scrumming too high as a pack
Poor binding
Lack of shoulder from flankers
Lack of front row technique
The tighter the 8 forwards bind, the more natural the “feel” is to hit, flex and shove together, as a unit, at the same time, towards the same objective.
Technically speaking or scientifically speaking, from the viewpoint of physics, it is the sum of vector powers at a given time interval which provides forward momentum.
If the shove is simultaneous from 8 scrummagers, the vector powers is the sum of the 8 individual powers in the same direction, whereas if the shove is not simultaneous by all, one can simply not talk about the sum of vector powers.
How long the pressure of these combined vector powers are maintained together, is monumental in the outcome.
There needs to be a joint feel for when to renew a shove or provide further ancillary shoves or gains in momentum.
The platform for these vector powers to be achieved, lies in the front row whose duty it is to provide the stable platform for these powers to be harnessed successfully.
How these frontrowers achieve this is detailed by our friend, tight head, in the Article above.
Interesting material tighthead, what is your history in the the game? I first thought you may have, meant the most efficient angle between legs and body is 90 degrees, rather than 45 degrees, cause that just seemed too awkward but then realized by testing it that as well as your body being bent over your legs would be bent as well, anyone walking by must have been thinking I was mad here on my own in my lounge doing the various bending to try and figure out your theory.
There are some folk with some serious rugby knowledge on this site.. Crisis.
deur reg te bind en saam as n eenhied te hit kon die klub span waarvoor ek gespeel het n scrum masjien met 1,5 ton op een voet ver skuif ,dit verg egter baie oefening en harde werk, ek kry die idee dat vandag se afrigters baie keer die scrum afskeep
Great article tight head. I thorougly enjoyed it.
This sentence “therefore the legs need to be at the most efficient angle which is no more than 45 degrees to the body and often much less” got me wondering. Is that 45 degrees at the hips meaning that the hips and abdomen is at a 45 degree V-like angle (like a squad with the heels on the ground) or does it mean you need to lean forward with the thighs 45 degree open angle to the hips more on yor toes then.
If you look at the all blacks warming up you’ll see the frontrow do these repeated semi-squad-forward-surge actions. They bind then squad with the heels on the ground and the surge forward and upwars at a 45 degree angle.
With the Aussie scrum on the other hand you’ll see the props hanging with the knees not under the body but behind and the props on their toes. The lean into the opposition almost hanging.
Do you start off like the AB and then move into the hanging position or should the props try and keep the knees under them when the push forward namely short steps maintaing the V-like 45 degree angle between the hips and the thighs?
Great article tighthead, and thank you for the detail. I used to overhear Charlie Cockrill esposing the dynamics you speak of at training, but the technicalities were lost to me until your description.
Based on those facts, does it seem feasible to you that the Wallabies’ scrum problems can be solved in one week’s training, even after a concentrated few past years of endeavour? In other words, the chances of the Wallas performing anywhere near the level the English 8 will strive to achieve next weekend are implausible. Simply put, the Wallabies backs can expect only bad ball from set pieces this weekend.
@ McLook:
Mc Look , the best way to describe it is like this:
The number of 45 degrees can be misleading and is a guideline as every single person has a different and unique body shape.
However if you imagine yourself against a scrum machine with your back ALWAYS at a flat horizontal position and your legs directly under your hips at 90 degrees to your back, then slowly take your legs back until they reach the optimium position for you to scrum with a straight back as low to the scrum machine as possible but very importantly allowing a bend in your legs at the knee to generate drive and power from the ground and at the same time feeling that the position gives you the most solid way of generating the drive from the ground through your body.
Their is an optimum position for your body.
Legs too far back and you loose power and the ability to stay up and not fall down.
Legs too far forward and you cannot generate power from the ground, are too high at the contact point and are likely to have your back bent too easily.
This is how every one of the eight should scrum.
However the props have to contend with the hit and bind and the need to quickly get the superior position at the contact point, so very often they adjust their legs immediately after the hit and try to get to the optimum position described above.
@ Old Griquas 14 in Sydney:
Thanks Griquas.
The interesting thing is that you can train and discipline a scrum to perform these basics quite quickly and at international level I would think that the Aussies can improve significantly in a week provided they adhere to these basics.
I have experienced many times both as a player and a scrum coach a lighter pack beating a far heavier pack simply because the lighter pack is technically correct.
Contrary to what most fans think, technique will always beat bulk, especially in the front row.
@ tight head:
Thank you for that interpretation tighthead. I’ll be watching the match against the poms this weekend with a renewed interest in scrum outcomes.
@ tight head:
I wonder how Heinke vd Merwe fares in Europe?
I have not heard anything from him.
Tight head @7. Good description. Like Old Griquas 14 I’ll watch the scrums this weekend with renewed interest. Alos clear from your description is that rugby is a team sport and that aplies to the scrum just as much if not more than in any other part of the game.
Getting that synchronisity, that feeling and innate understanding of what the pack should do takes lots of training, lots of team spirit and group cohesiveness. It also means that is is not necesarily the team with the biggest okes in the scrum who is going to win the scrum battle. It is the pack that gell and have mastered the basics to and extend that they move beyond science to the art; to the innate feeling of group unision almost like pigeons (when one moves in a driection every one else outomatically follow in total synch) who will rule in the scrum.
Great stuff mate. Loved it.
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