The Cheetahs have followed the “correct channels” in order to find an urgent solution for their scrumming problems and eradicate all misunderstandings ahead of Friday’s Super Rugby match against the Bulls.
By Hendrik Cronjé.
This comes after the Cheetahs, according to ruggastats.com, conceded 5 of their 15 penalties against the Sharks in the scrums on Saturday.
Loosehead prop Coenie Oosthuizen was penalised three times and tighthead prop WP Nel twice in the Durban clash.
Sharks loosehead prop Beast Mtawarira was only penalised once by referee Craig Joubert, who will also be the referee in Friday night’s Super Rugby match against the Bulls at Vodacom Park.
“We have done a thorough video analysis of the match and sent a report (to South African Rugby Union referees manager André Watson),” said Cheetahs coach Naka Drotské.
It was difficult to determine from TV footage why Joubert was penalising the visiting props and Cheetahs supporters will hope that solutions can be found to the unexpected problems.
The Bulls did not experience any major scrumming problems in their first match of the year against the Lions. Springbok prop Gurthrö Steenkamp was the only front-ranker to concede a penalty.
Oosthuizen and Nel have not experienced these problems before and it will come as a surprise if they are again penalised heavily by Joubert, especially with Os du Randt as their scrum coach.
Du Randt is known for his strict discipline and is certain to crack the whip if his players break the scrum laws.
The Cheetahs, desperate to solve their scrum woes, may enlist the help of referee Craig Joubert ahead of their Super Rugby Round Two encounter with the Bulls on Friday.
The Cheetahs were on the wrong end of numerous of the referee’s rulings on their 9-24 loss to the Sharks in Durban at the weekend.
Both coach Naka Drotské and stand-in captain Adriaan Strauss were at a loss for words to explain the disastrous sequence of events that unfolded at scrum time in Durban.
The first four scrums went: free kick, free kick, free kick, penalty – all against the Cheetahs.
Although the Cheetahs improved somewhat as the game progressed – and the Sharks were even penalised at stages – the men from Bloemfontein were all too often still penalised by Joubert in the set pieces.
Strauss was forthright when asked about his team’s woes in Durban and the pending arrival of the gargantuan Bulls pack in Bloemfontein this week.
“We just couldn’t shake off all the penalties against us,” Strauss said about the loss in Durban, adding: “[It is] something we need to work on this week.”
The Cheetahs’ Bok hooker, who is standing in as captain for the injured Juan Smith, said he wasn’t sure exactly what caused the problems.
“I am in the middle of the scrums, so you can’t always see what is going on.
“We will have a look at the video and have a chat to the referee as well, maybe we can sort it out before next weekend.”
The hooker said there were engagement issues and binding issues.
“Like I said, we’ll have a chat with the referee and maybe he can help us.
“It is something we have to sort out before next weekend’s game [against the Bulls].”
Coach Naka Drotské added that a Monday video session might shed more light on the issue.
“We can then decide if all those penalties [and free kicks] were justified or not,” Drotské said.
“If we feel the rulings [of the referee] were excessive, we will compile a report and forward it to André Watson [the South African Rugby Union Referee’s boss], or maybe just chat with Craig [Joubert] about it.”
rugby365.com
The tighthead by nature will always try to scrum the loosehead downwards.
The loosehead by nature will always try to scrum underneath the tighthead and force him upwards.
At the same time the loosehead can pretend to be scrummed into the ground by the tight head in order to get the penalty.
So the ref has to determine whether the loosehead is trying his best to stay up but is simply being overpowered by the tighthead.
The key decision is whether to blow the tighthead for scrumming downwards with shoulders below his hips or whether to blow the loosehead for not keeping the scrum up.
Of course there is the deeper matter for the game of whether we punish the superior scrummager?
This is the real issue and as we have changed the scrum laws and refs do not understand the mechanics of the front row we are finding very often that the more powerfull scrum is punished.
That does not make sense to me!!
More sour grapes from the Cheetahs, they should look at playing Sias Ebershon and not that cart horse Naas Olivier as well as stop kicking all of their good ball away. That is where they lost the game, not at scrum time.
Well I guess the Cheetah supporters have good reason to have sour grapes, as it appears no real valid reason for the penalties could be found, hence the report to Andre Watson, surely a man with Os du Randt’s knowledge and reputation would be able to establish just cause for the penalties. So if the renowned scrum guru feels there is enough grounds to mail Watson, I smell a rat!!
Agree Naas looked out of sorts, and he seemed lethargic from the start of the match, lets give the man a chance to redeem himself. I would also like them to groom Sias, and Johan Goosen, as we need a real attacking flyhalf!!
Go Cheetahs!!
I thought during the game tht the Cheetahs were excessively punished at scrum time. Craig Joubert only eventually punished the Sharks tighthead late in the game for binding with his shoulders below his hips. By then it was a bit too late.
I feel that the touch judge on the opposite side of the scrum also needs too focus on the binding, as once Beast also lost his bind but it was on the other side of the scrum so Craig Joubert didn’t see it and the TJ said nothing.
They really need to soort out scrum officating , it can win or lose a game.
I also feel that the Cheetahs didn’t deserve the punishment dealt to them. In wet conditions, people are bound to slip, but twice WP Nel was scrummed upwards, and his head popped out, that penalty should have been against the Beast, he wasn’t scrumming straight, Coenie Oosthuizen slipped his bind, but recovered twice before the ball was in, I don’t understand why he was penalized at all. Bismarck got away with murder in the game, and was only penalized once.
As for the early engagements, the Cheetahs got the bulk of the penalties against them, yet it takes two to tango, those engagements were simultaneous at best, you can’t go and punish the defending team everytime, it’s just not on.
Craig Joubert, has now countless times proven himself to be a worthy successor of that pinnacle of patheticness, Willie Roos, and we all know what happened to him…
The referees need to be kept on their toes…
So, I’m glad that the Cheetahs are questioning these scrummaging decisions, the scrums need a drastic simplification…. not only on the level of consistency of who gets punished for when and what… but damn man, most frustrating is that every farking ref is rudimentary different in his application of “Crouch, Touch, Pause, Engage”… some slow, some fast, some not knowing from one scrum to the next whether they will be fast or slow in giving these calls.
What stood out to me in the 1st week was how DETERMINED EVERY REF was to put his particular stamp on the match in stead of being there as facilitator of a fair game. The CARDS flew this past weekend and we saw so freegin many penalties, it was scary.
Seems as if the refs feel they just HAVE TO steal some of the limelight.
There were some really kak decisions this weekend… and you will know from experience that I’m very hesitant to play the “Blame the Ref” game.
And don’t think for a minute that I’m blaming only Aussie or Kiwi refs… the SA farkers were just as bad, if not worse!
6@ The Saint:
Wat’s fout met julle klomp vet stutte, julle leer ookie, flok! Daarbenewens kan julle nie eers reg skrum nie, kannie behoorlik pass nie, kannie vinnig hardloop nie, is lomp….lelik… snaaks gebou… onfiks…. farktup!
Hehehe
Op ‘n ernstige noot, die meeste strafskoppe die afgelope naweek was by skrums, 2de meeste was onkantlyne… en daarna die ander oortredings.
Dit swaai verseker games… en neem ernstig weg van die hele regverdigheidsaspek van die game.
The reasoning behind the scrummaging laws is safety for the players. But to the detriment of the game and the scrum contest.
In the past the team in possession would dictate the “hit”, and the opposing team would try and outwit the team in possession.
Does anyone have any statistics on what the injuries were compared to now on scrums?
@ grootblousmile:
As I have said before, the “pause” has to be removed from the scrum call.
There is simply no understanding of the competition for dominance at the hit.
It is everything to hit in and take control of your opponent on the hit and bind.
This should be an even contest based on hitting in hard and fast and may the best man win.
Instead they are attempting to depower this by making the hit neutral, as they simply do not understand the mechanics and mentality of scrumming.
When a front row gets blown up for early engagement they tend to hold back at the next scrum and end up giving all the advantage to the opposition, making it an unfaif and uneven contest.
In trying to mess with the scrum by over officiating it they have achieved the opposite of that which they intended, by making it one sided instead of fair.
Scrumming should be a contest in which the superior scrum are rewarded not punished!!
wat help dit om te kla?niemand luister nie,kyk maar hoe het willie roos die wp en stormers verneek.toe wys schalk burger vir die nar hand tekens toe word hy geskors.
10@ tight head:
I am 1000% in agreement!
It is a key contest area, just like the breakdowns are or lineouts or backline moves.
The better team or for that matter the better scrum should benefit, just like a good loosie trio benefits at ground-ball situations or like locks benefit in lineout play.
To my mind they can do away with the “touch” and “pause” parts, just have a “crouch, engage”….
11@ Piet visagie:
Kommaan Piet Vis-ogie, haal die WP bril af…. dis nie net WP wat verneuk word nie.
Kan jy ENIGSINS objektief na iets kyk, sonder dat jou vooroordeel uit jou bek babbel?
@ biltongbek:
Claiming safety as the reason for messing up the scrum laws is the biggest lie that they have fed to us.
When last did you see a front row player injured in a scrum at top level?
It simply does not happen, both before and after these new scrum laws.
Scrum injuries happen at lower levels of the game and at schoolboy level.
The reason for all of these injuries is poor technique as a result of bad coaching.
Scrumming should be a fair physical and technical contest by players who are competent to scrum.
It is all about scrum coaching, which is very poor, especially at scchoolboy level.
Ek is juis besig om so ietsie te skryf oor die verdomde refs, sal netnou publish.
tight head wrote:
Well that confirms what a farce these new laws are then.
It seems that scrumtime is not about outwitting and physically dominating you opposing front row anymore, but rather for weaker frontrows to outwit the referee.
Toe die stormers kla oor joubert na die super 14 final toe word hulle uitgewys as slegte verloorders,nou dat die cheetahs glo verneek word moet dinge eweskielik verander?al wat ek se is refs kan doen wat hulle wil in sa,nie almal doen die eerlike ding en bedank soos willie roos nie.
17@ Piet visagie:
Wat doen jy daar in Ysland of geweste wat jou so woes een-ogig en verneukbaar laat voel…. moer hulle broer, want hulle maak van jou ‘n onaangename kwaksalwer…
Jammer maar die naka maak my bietjie kwaad met sy gekla elke keer as die cheetahs verloor.
19@ Piet visagie:
Is jy in Iceland… indien so, waar en hoekom juis Iceland?
Mens sal mos vrek van die koue daar, mits jy nie ‘n moerse warmbloedige Eskimo-vroutjie het om jou snoesig te hou nie?
kruip weg vir my ex in iceland..lol.nie eers in iceland sal ek haar kan ontwyk nie..sy sal pas daar in iceland met haar yskoue persoonlikheid.
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