IRELAND’S SCRUM NOW looks stronger than it’s ever been.
After Sunday’s win against Italy, the stats for 2015 make for impressive reading. 51 of the last 53 scrums Ireland have had the put-in to have been won, and in the whole of 2015, just six of 73 scrums have been lost against the head.
One of the reasons for such consistency retaining their own ball is that for the most part, they are simply trying to retain their own ball, and nothing more.
It’s something Mike Ross alluded to in recent days too. In short, the fewer risks you take, the less chances there is for it to go wrong.
“What we really want from our scrum is a solid base, a good way of delivering a solid platform for our backs,” he said.
“It’s not all about driving over and winning penalties, although it’s nice when it happens. But we have to be realistic and realise it’s not going to happen every scrum.”
But if there was one game this season where Ireland did appear to struggle, it was the meeting with their next opponents France in the Six Nations.
And as luck would have it, it’s the same front row trio that come up against Ireland this Sunday.
That day, Eddy Ben Arous gave Mike Ross a very difficult afternoon, and while Jack McGrath was able to handle some questionable angles and binds from Rabah Slimani, on the balance of things Ireland came out second best.
The most crucial battle this weekend will be that of Mike Ross and Eddy Ben Arous. The Racing 92 25-year-old has established himself as one of the brightest young looseheads in the world, and he showed why, both against Ireland earlier this year and in the World Cup to date.
One example from their meeting earlier this year shows just how much pressure Ross was under trying to keep the scrum afloat.
We can see below that Ross has had to extend his legs to keep the scrum up.
While Ben Arous’ angles look ideal, Ross’ has his feet too far behind his body to generate any real power, and once the pressure comes on, he inevitably slips.
It was missed by the referee at the time, Ireland winning a freekick after the French backrow interfered with the ball in the scrum.
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France were unlucky to miss Ben Arous for the end of that championship, but he’s been quite impressive in the World Cup so far.
Unlike plenty of looseheads these days, he mostly drives straight at his opponent, and his technique of keeping low to the ground and his back straight are very hard to defend against.
We can see this example from the meeting with Canada last week. Rather than driving across the chest of Doug Wooldridge, he keeps his head outside the Canadian’s shoulder and drives straight.
Soon after, another dominant drive from Ben Arous yields a penalty
In the initial set-up, the pair line up as usual.
And once the ball is fed, Ben Arous moves straight, keeping that head outside the shoulder of Wooldridge.
And when we watch the scrum through as a whole, we can see just how much trouble it causes the Canadian. Why angle into an opponent when you can do this legally?
The real troublemaker on the French side, however, is Rabah Slimani. Cian Healy this week described the Stade Francais tighthead as “the cleverest one”, which in prop speak essentially means he’s very, very good at cheating.
Against Ireland he bored in on Jack McGrath regularly, and the Irish loosehead did quite well to avoid following him inside, instead driving straight through on him.
In this example, Slimani moves inside to attack Rory Best, but McGrath resists the urge to follow him in. But for the ball popping out the back of the scrum earlier than expected, McGrath could have had him in real trouble.
However, he was penalised shortly after, dropping McGrath to the ground yet again.
The first issue was his bind. You can see below that his arm is pointing directly to the ground, latched onto the tricep of McGrath, with an X marked at where he really should be bound.
And just as he had in the previous scrum, Slimani tries to move in across Rory Best, with McGrath keeping his hips square and driving straight.
He does this with a solid body position. Hips square, back parallel to the ground, and a long bind.
And once McGrath begins to put on the pressure, Sliamni pulls him to the ground giving Ireland a penalty.
Slimani’s bind has been making scrums particularly messy so far in the tournament, and he got away with pulling down a couple in the win against Italy.
In this example below, we can see how he just pulls Matias Aguero’s arm into his body, causing him to fold inside. With referee Craig Joubert watching the opposite side of the scrum, he took the advice of his touchjudge John Lacey to penalise Italy, which looks very harsh indeed.
And it also happened later in the game. We can see below how Italy’s Aguero (with the bandaged arm) is going to great lengths to keep his bind up, with Slimani latched very short on his arm.
And once the ball is fed, it appears that Slimani swings downwards, causing Aguero to collapse.
Together, the pair gave Ireland a very tough afternoon in the Six Nations meeting in February, but the Irish scrum has improved even further since that game, and have only lost four scrums in their 10 subsequent matches.
Expect Ireland to play a simple game on their put-ins, with a fairly risk-free approach for scrums outside the 22.
On the French put-in, the target must be containment. Mike Ross needs to get low to match Eddy Ben Arous, and may take a short bind, exposing Ben Arous’ tendency to point his elbow to the ground.
The task for Cian Healy is pretty much the opposite. Slimani will be trying to pull things down, so keeping his bind as high and tight as possible is vital.
But with just two turnovers in their last 53 put-ins, expect Ireland to have their homework done for their biggest scrum battle of the year.
Analysis: Slimani and Ben Arous will give Irish scrum their biggest challenge yet
IRELAND’S SCRUM NOW looks stronger than it’s ever been.
After Sunday’s win against Italy, the stats for 2015 make for impressive reading. 51 of the last 53 scrums Ireland have had the put-in to have been won, and in the whole of 2015, just six of 73 scrums have been lost against the head.
One of the reasons for such consistency retaining their own ball is that for the most part, they are simply trying to retain their own ball, and nothing more.
Outside the danger-zones, neither tight nor loosehead are trying to make any major inroads into the opposition, something we saw against Canada in the opening game.
It’s something Mike Ross alluded to in recent days too. In short, the fewer risks you take, the less chances there is for it to go wrong.
“It’s not all about driving over and winning penalties, although it’s nice when it happens. But we have to be realistic and realise it’s not going to happen every scrum.”
But if there was one game this season where Ireland did appear to struggle, it was the meeting with their next opponents France in the Six Nations.
And as luck would have it, it’s the same front row trio that come up against Ireland this Sunday.
That day, Eddy Ben Arous gave Mike Ross a very difficult afternoon, and while Jack McGrath was able to handle some questionable angles and binds from Rabah Slimani, on the balance of things Ireland came out second best.
The most crucial battle this weekend will be that of Mike Ross and Eddy Ben Arous. The Racing 92 25-year-old has established himself as one of the brightest young looseheads in the world, and he showed why, both against Ireland earlier this year and in the World Cup to date.
One example from their meeting earlier this year shows just how much pressure Ross was under trying to keep the scrum afloat.
We can see below that Ross has had to extend his legs to keep the scrum up.
While Ben Arous’ angles look ideal, Ross’ has his feet too far behind his body to generate any real power, and once the pressure comes on, he inevitably slips.
It was missed by the referee at the time, Ireland winning a freekick after the French backrow interfered with the ball in the scrum.
France were unlucky to miss Ben Arous for the end of that championship, but he’s been quite impressive in the World Cup so far.
Unlike plenty of looseheads these days, he mostly drives straight at his opponent, and his technique of keeping low to the ground and his back straight are very hard to defend against.
We can see this example from the meeting with Canada last week. Rather than driving across the chest of Doug Wooldridge, he keeps his head outside the Canadian’s shoulder and drives straight.
Soon after, another dominant drive from Ben Arous yields a penalty
In the initial set-up, the pair line up as usual.
And once the ball is fed, Ben Arous moves straight, keeping that head outside the shoulder of Wooldridge.
And when we watch the scrum through as a whole, we can see just how much trouble it causes the Canadian. Why angle into an opponent when you can do this legally?
The real troublemaker on the French side, however, is Rabah Slimani. Cian Healy this week described the Stade Francais tighthead as “the cleverest one”, which in prop speak essentially means he’s very, very good at cheating.
Against Ireland he bored in on Jack McGrath regularly, and the Irish loosehead did quite well to avoid following him inside, instead driving straight through on him.
In this example, Slimani moves inside to attack Rory Best, but McGrath resists the urge to follow him in. But for the ball popping out the back of the scrum earlier than expected, McGrath could have had him in real trouble.
However, he was penalised shortly after, dropping McGrath to the ground yet again.
The first issue was his bind. You can see below that his arm is pointing directly to the ground, latched onto the tricep of McGrath, with an X marked at where he really should be bound.
And just as he had in the previous scrum, Slimani tries to move in across Rory Best, with McGrath keeping his hips square and driving straight.
He does this with a solid body position. Hips square, back parallel to the ground, and a long bind.
And once McGrath begins to put on the pressure, Sliamni pulls him to the ground giving Ireland a penalty.
Slimani’s bind has been making scrums particularly messy so far in the tournament, and he got away with pulling down a couple in the win against Italy.
In this example below, we can see how he just pulls Matias Aguero’s arm into his body, causing him to fold inside. With referee Craig Joubert watching the opposite side of the scrum, he took the advice of his touchjudge John Lacey to penalise Italy, which looks very harsh indeed.
And it also happened later in the game. We can see below how Italy’s Aguero (with the bandaged arm) is going to great lengths to keep his bind up, with Slimani latched very short on his arm.
And once the ball is fed, it appears that Slimani swings downwards, causing Aguero to collapse.
Together, the pair gave Ireland a very tough afternoon in the Six Nations meeting in February, but the Irish scrum has improved even further since that game, and have only lost four scrums in their 10 subsequent matches.
Expect Ireland to play a simple game on their put-ins, with a fairly risk-free approach for scrums outside the 22.
On the French put-in, the target must be containment. Mike Ross needs to get low to match Eddy Ben Arous, and may take a short bind, exposing Ben Arous’ tendency to point his elbow to the ground.
The task for Cian Healy is pretty much the opposite. Slimani will be trying to pull things down, so keeping his bind as high and tight as possible is vital.
But with just two turnovers in their last 53 put-ins, expect Ireland to have their homework done for their biggest scrum battle of the year.
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Analysis Cian Healy Eddy Ben Arous Ireland Jack McGrath Mike Ross rabah slimani rwc 15 Scrum Analysis