AFTER LONG, GRUELING scrummaging shifts against Wales, France and England, Saturday’s win against Italy was pretty straightforward for Ireland.
Lorenzo Cittadini had struggled against the Scots two weeks previous, so when he was forced to pull out just prior to kick-off, it was hard to know whether it was a blessing in disguise for the Italians. Even with hindsight, it’s hard to tell.
Coming in at the last minute, third choice (Castrogiovanni was suspended) Dario Chistolini handled himself well against a far superior opponent in Jack McGrath. McGrath was in control, but the Italian kept the damage to a minimum. It was a pretty clean scrummaging afternoon, helped by an assured, decisive performance from referee Angus Gardner.
For the most part, Ireland looked comfortable. McGrath’s superiority over Chistolini was evident from the start, but with the mood Ireland were in, they were looking for fast, clean ball from the scrum, rather then milking penalties.
On the first of the day, Chistolini got his feet in a complete mess, and McGrath put the squeeze on him. Right from the start, we can see how wary he is of McGrath’s power. Almost immediately, before the ball is even fed, he’s looking to lock out his legs, with almost no bend at the hips, or at the knees.
Because of this, as soon as he attempts to push, or maneuver his body position, his balance is compromised. And that’s exactly what happens. In the picture below, we can see the exact moment he attempts to step. He puts all his weight on his left side in an attempt to step forward on his right foot.
And as soon as he lifts that right foot up, McGrath punishes him, powering through, and causing the Italian to buckle inside.
With the ball present at the back for Ireland, Italy avoid conceding a penalty, but it was an early sign of Ireland’s comfort. Later in the half, an Italian scrum gives us another indication as to how hard they’re having to work to secure their own ball.
We can see below how Jack McGrath’s technique is spot on, with a 90-degree angle at the hips and 120 degrees at the knees, while Chistolini is fully locked out again, with very little flex in his body position.
What’s also good to see from McGrath is how he’s keeping his head on the outside of Chistolini’s body, making sure he’s nice and legal. If you can still see a loosehead’s head during the scrum, it’s a sure sign his angles are right.
Chistolini is under immense pressure and eventually starts to fold in, but Italy do very well to get the ball out just as things start to get messy.
Ireland played the game nice and safe on Saturday at scrum time — especially as they had a referee who was new to the Six Nations, taking silly risks would have been dangerous, and for the most part, they concentrated on solid ball retention, giving the backs the platform to work.
When there were so many holes to be found in the Italian backline, why would they do any different? At the start of the second half, we could see Mike Ross a bit clearer, and how he simply held his position against Andrea Lovotti. Below, his feet are what we’re going to look at, with his front set of studs firmly planted in the ground, giving him stability and maneuverability.
With the game done and dusted, and so many changes to each side, things naturally got messy as the game wore on, and Nathan White conceded a penalty on his first scrum in. It was a very good call by Gardner, who was watching the other side, but still managed to spot White pulling his opponent down. We can see the initial set up below, with White’s bind perfectly fine on Andrea Lovotti.
However, Lovotti gets a slight nudge on, and we can see how White begins to push his bind down, trying to force Lovotti lower.
And eventually it collapses, and Ireland are penalised.
With Scotland coming up this weekend, Ireland will have to be extremely vigilant on the tighthead side. The Scottish front row trio of Alasdair Dickinson, Ross Ford and WP Nel have been outstanding so far in the Six Nations, and for the most part they play within the rules.
In last week’s scrum piece, we saw how Dickinson completely dismantled Lorenzo Cittadini against Italy, and on Sunday against France, he won his individual battle with Rabah Slimani, who some consider to be the best tighthead in the world at the moment. We don’t need reminding of our own scrum problems against France earlier in the tournament, so the five penalties Scotland picked up there cannot be sniffed at — continuity in the front row has been huge for them.
Dickinson, Ford and Nel are all coming from Edinburgh, so as a collective, they know each other very well. While Nel has been solid as a rock at tighthead, the destruction is coming from Dickinson. He takes apart Slimani twice early on, with Scotland earning two penalties and a free kick off the first four drives. On the first, it comes from Slimani trying too hard to drive in at the angle, and collapsing under pressure.
We can see below how when they set up, Slimani has started to edge in between Dickinson and his hooker Ross Ford, in an attempt to split them. We can see the angle, but I also want to point out where both Slimani and Scotland’s tighthead WP Nel are bound to their hooker.
Traditionally, the tighthead would be known to get a hold of his hooker’s left side to keep as tight as possible. But more and more, we’re seeing them bind in a central position on the back of the hooker’s shorts, as we can see below. This allows them a bit more room to push out their hips and attack the angle.
In this instance, Slimani collapses and concedes a penalty, and soon after the French give away a free-kick for an early push. Scotland were gaining the upper hand, and on the fourth scrum of the day, Dickinson does a real number on Slimani to drive him back, displaying absolutely perfect technique.
Just after the ball is fed, we can see how Slimani is once again trying to attack the angle, but Dickinson doesn’t panic. He keeps a perfect position at the hips and knees, and just like we saw from Jack McGrath earlier, he keeps his head on the outside.
He begins to march Slimani backwards, and it’s important to note that as he’s doing it, his body position remains the same.
Eventually, the scrum collapses on the far side, with France’s Jefferson Poirot the man pinged. He was bound to the shorts of WP Nel, trying to pull his hips out and bore across.
While Dickinson has been the destructive force at loosehead, he’s being allowed to do it because of the solidity Nel provides on the tighthead side. Much like Ross in the Irish pack, they look lost when he’s off the pitch, because the balance isn’t there. He’s a scrummager that bases his game on doing the simple things right, trusting his technique when faced with more flexible and explosive opponents. We can see in a couple of examples below, how he sets up with perfect form.
He’s also capable of putting the squeeze on opponents though, and this penalty he earns at the start of the second half shows it. It’s difficult to see clearly, because it was filmed on the RefCam, but we can see how he forces Poirot to pop up from the scrum below.
This Saturday, Ireland’s pack need to have their wits about them. Eight-man shoves must be the call of the day. With Ross Ford unable to strike, Scotland thrive on timing their shove at the exact moment the ball is fed.
If Ireland aren’t ready, like France and Italy weren’t in recent games, then it could be a very long afternoon. Ross will need every bit of the experience he’s picked up in his previous 58 caps, while Jack McGrath will be lucky to get many yards from the frugal scrummaging of Nel.
The only problem for the Scots is the reliance on the starters. Nel and Dickinson put in a lot of minutes, with the likes of Moray Low and Rory Sutherland there for the taking if they get on the pitch.
Ball retention and a limit on the penalty count will be a solid result from this powerful and resurgent Scottish scrum.
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