A Blast From The Past: The Old Boys Show How It Should Be Done

While on a recent return to the country of my birth, South Africa, I managed to fill the hours that I wasn’t on the beach or in the sun by watching ESPN classics of the Currie Cup finals from around the 1990’s. I found a few things surprising.

But the thing that caught my eye the most wasn’t the unexpected fleet footedness of Gary Teichman, in a decade that I assumed churned out forwards that only knew how to run straight, and not very fast.

Nor was it the messy scramble for the ball that was line out time, with luck often determining which side came out with the ball.

It wasn’t even watching the ref physically hitting the players until they removed themselves from their offside position. Or even the Afrikaans tongue lashing that they received from him after conceding a penalty.

The thing that surprised me the most was the fluid movement of the scrum, when the engage call by the Ref and the second rows, flankers and number eight packing down was almost simultaneous, and how the scrum managed to stay upright almost all the time. It lead to me ponder two things.

Firstly how come every scrum seemingly has to be reset three times before these professionals get it right? Lets not forget they are professionals, its what they are paid to do, its what they train almost every day to do.

Secondly that the scrum actually looked good. It looked graceful. Not a mean feat coming from some old fashioned forwards!

Then I stumbled on an article in SA Rugby magazine, in which Balie Swart, ex Springbok and Transvaal prop, seems to have some answers: “ The biggest problem is that many of our front rowers don’t use the correct technique or aren’t strong enough to hold the tension after the engage. They also lack the discipline and don’t listen to the referee, which sees them chasing the hit and making an early engage”.

This scrumming problem has got to be stemming from school rugby, and again Swart has a theory about this. Problems, says Swart, start when coaches coach the scrum according to how they want their team to play, and not to the laws of the game.

Swart continues to say that: “ They must accurately identify players for the right position and not just play a flank at prop because he can hold his own at scrum time and it gives them a bit extra in the loose”. Its not surprising then to hear that he wants to bring back the big men at school level and coach them properly.

Perhaps another answer is that in the modern game props are more interested in getting the upper hand on an opposition prop, and so concentrate less on keeping square on in the hit, but try and get a left or right shoulder in, which leads more often to collapsed scrums.

Perhaps, for safety and the fans sake (who often get bored watching the same scrum four times), we should all listen to Swart and concentrate more on a big, square on collision.