THERE WEREN’T ALL that many scrums last Friday night in Dublin as Ireland took on Argentina, with 11 in total.
By way of comparison, there were 20 scrums last November when South Africa visited the Aviva Stadium and dismantled the Irish scrum.
There were six penalties against Ireland at the scrum that night against the Springboks, with both Andrew Porter and Paddy McCarthy shown yellow cards for infringements in this area. There was also a scrum penalty try for the South Africans.
That was an exceptionally bad night’s work for Ireland, of course, and last weekend against the Pumas was a lovely evening in comparison. Ireland won two scrum penalties against Argentina and conceded none.
Loosehead prop Porter earned a first-half penalty, while replacement tighthead Sam Illo managed to win one late in the game.
Ireland scrum coach John Fogarty was happy with the outing against the Pumas, and said he expects a different sort of challenge this weekend as Fiji visit Dublin.
“They [Argentina] can be messy, they can be a little bit high on bind, and messy entries can lead to collapse,” said Fogarty.
“With what we’re doing during the week, I think we’re in a good place. There’s a real nice focus on our drill and what we need to do in it.
“There’s a huge challenge coming up in a couple of weeks [against South Africa]. But for now we’re focused on Fiji because they’re next up, and that’s the most important scrum for now.
“They’ve been heavy. They’ve taken penalties off England and Wales. France didn’t crack them or break them at the weekend. They’re heavy, they’re big.
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Ireland scrummage against Argentina. Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
Fogarty believes Ireland have benefited from his tweaked coaching approach, with even more of a focus on their own work rather than what the opposition will bring to the scrum.
“I didn’t show a huge amount of Argentina clips last week because we’re focusing on ourselves,” he explained.
“We want to try and reduce the height of our scrum.”
“We want to be as connected as we possibly can be so we can stay in the fight for longer. There’s some games where the scrum ends too quick.
“So we’ve been focused and working really hard on the integrity of our scrum and reducing the height of our scrum. That’s got to be the focus for us this week again.”
While Fogarty is keen for the Irish pack not to get ahead of themselves and lose sight of Fiji this weekend, he does believe that Ireland are going in the right direction ahead of that scrum showdown with the Springboks.
“I’m confident in what it is we’re chasing down,” said Fogarty.
“The players are clear in what it is they’re chasing down. This week is another step towards us getting better, getting more consistent, all that stuff. So that’s genuinely where we’re at.
“We’re looking forward to what happens in the future, but we can’t spend too much time thinking about it.
“I’m not going to show a huge amount of Fiji. I’m going to show a couple of clips so that we understand what’s coming. But the focus again has to be on what it is you need to do in an Irish pack. That’s it.”
Fogarty was delighted to have Porter back last weekend for what was his first Ireland appearance since that night when the Springboks won in Dublin.
Fogarty is delighted with Sam Illo's progress. Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
Porter was excellent around the pitch and strong at the set-piece, with Fogarty saying he “brings confidence to the entire group, and he brings confidence to the scrum.”
Fogarty was also delighted to see Connacht’s Illo making his home debut off the bench.
Although he was unfortunate to be sin-binned during a sequence of Irish penalty concessions, Illo showed his potential in the loose and in the tight.
“I think that he is an incredibly powerful player,” said Fogarty. “You see him when he has moments outfield, his acceleration is huge. From here to here [two metres away], he’s incredibly powerful.
“He can transfer that in a scrum. His ability to get his hip into a good position on bind and when he’s levelled off and he gets into a scrum, he is properly into a scrum. Once he gets to height, he is aggressive.
“He did a brilliant job against that Saracens pack. He was square, he was at good height in every single scrum, very focused, and that’s what he needs to be now.
“There were a couple of scrums at the weekend.. he’s excited to get in and he finds himself a little bit left and he’s upright. That won’t cut the mustard this weekend and certainly not the following weekend. He’ll be focused on getting himself into a scrum square.
“The height he can get there and the way he can transfer through his hips from back-five is excellent. I’m very excited about him.”
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Ireland confident scrum going in right direction for Boks test
THERE WEREN’T ALL that many scrums last Friday night in Dublin as Ireland took on Argentina, with 11 in total.
By way of comparison, there were 20 scrums last November when South Africa visited the Aviva Stadium and dismantled the Irish scrum.
There were six penalties against Ireland at the scrum that night against the Springboks, with both Andrew Porter and Paddy McCarthy shown yellow cards for infringements in this area. There was also a scrum penalty try for the South Africans.
That was an exceptionally bad night’s work for Ireland, of course, and last weekend against the Pumas was a lovely evening in comparison. Ireland won two scrum penalties against Argentina and conceded none.
Loosehead prop Porter earned a first-half penalty, while replacement tighthead Sam Illo managed to win one late in the game.
Ireland scrum coach John Fogarty was happy with the outing against the Pumas, and said he expects a different sort of challenge this weekend as Fiji visit Dublin.
“They [Argentina] can be messy, they can be a little bit high on bind, and messy entries can lead to collapse,” said Fogarty.
“With what we’re doing during the week, I think we’re in a good place. There’s a real nice focus on our drill and what we need to do in it.
“There’s a huge challenge coming up in a couple of weeks [against South Africa]. But for now we’re focused on Fiji because they’re next up, and that’s the most important scrum for now.
“They’ve been heavy. They’ve taken penalties off England and Wales. France didn’t crack them or break them at the weekend. They’re heavy, they’re big.
Fogarty believes Ireland have benefited from his tweaked coaching approach, with even more of a focus on their own work rather than what the opposition will bring to the scrum.
“I didn’t show a huge amount of Argentina clips last week because we’re focusing on ourselves,” he explained.
“We want to try and reduce the height of our scrum.”
“We want to be as connected as we possibly can be so we can stay in the fight for longer. There’s some games where the scrum ends too quick.
“So we’ve been focused and working really hard on the integrity of our scrum and reducing the height of our scrum. That’s got to be the focus for us this week again.”
While Fogarty is keen for the Irish pack not to get ahead of themselves and lose sight of Fiji this weekend, he does believe that Ireland are going in the right direction ahead of that scrum showdown with the Springboks.
“I’m confident in what it is we’re chasing down,” said Fogarty.
“The players are clear in what it is they’re chasing down. This week is another step towards us getting better, getting more consistent, all that stuff. So that’s genuinely where we’re at.
“We’re looking forward to what happens in the future, but we can’t spend too much time thinking about it.
“I’m not going to show a huge amount of Fiji. I’m going to show a couple of clips so that we understand what’s coming. But the focus again has to be on what it is you need to do in an Irish pack. That’s it.”
Fogarty was delighted to have Porter back last weekend for what was his first Ireland appearance since that night when the Springboks won in Dublin.
Porter was excellent around the pitch and strong at the set-piece, with Fogarty saying he “brings confidence to the entire group, and he brings confidence to the scrum.”
Fogarty was also delighted to see Connacht’s Illo making his home debut off the bench.
Although he was unfortunate to be sin-binned during a sequence of Irish penalty concessions, Illo showed his potential in the loose and in the tight.
“I think that he is an incredibly powerful player,” said Fogarty. “You see him when he has moments outfield, his acceleration is huge. From here to here [two metres away], he’s incredibly powerful.
“He can transfer that in a scrum. His ability to get his hip into a good position on bind and when he’s levelled off and he gets into a scrum, he is properly into a scrum. Once he gets to height, he is aggressive.
“He did a brilliant job against that Saracens pack. He was square, he was at good height in every single scrum, very focused, and that’s what he needs to be now.
“There were a couple of scrums at the weekend.. he’s excited to get in and he finds himself a little bit left and he’s upright. That won’t cut the mustard this weekend and certainly not the following weekend. He’ll be focused on getting himself into a scrum square.
“The height he can get there and the way he can transfer through his hips from back-five is excellent. I’m very excited about him.”
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