SEAMUS TOOMEY LOVES scrums. It doesn’t take long to figure this out, but it becomes increasingly evident over the course of our conversation as the Limerick native decides words are not enough to make his point, and so walls, desks and chairs all get recruited to demonstrations around technique and best form.
The IRFU’s Performance Pathway Scrum Coach comes across as a man who has been itching to talk about scrums all day, even if he’s not long off the training pitch with the Ireland U20s.
“I’m really passionate about scrummaging,” Toomey says.
“I suppose I have a track record of producing front rows in Blackrock and I wanted to see if I could have the same impact nationally.”
It’s quite the career turn for a man who spent eight years as a prison officer in Mountjoy upon first moving to Dublin in 1998. In the mid-2000s Toomey went back to college to study physiotherapy, a pivot that sat nicely with a love of coaching rugby.
As a new life took shape Toomey would spend the bulk of his coaching career at Blackrock College, where Oli Jager, Jeremy Loughman, Joe McCarthy and Caelan Doris were just some of the talented forwards to slog it out on the training pitches. Go back a little further and Tadhg Furlong, Jack Conan and Tadhg Beirne crossed his path with the Leinster U19s. Navan RFC and the Trinity U20s also featured on the CV which landed in the IRFU’s inbox in late 2024, expressing interest in a newly created role aimed to “aid the development of front row forwards across the Provincial and National Performance Pathways”.
A year in, that role has become a little more clearly defined. Toomey, a self-described ‘proud Bruff RFC man’, spent most of the last 12 months moving between the Ireland U18s, U19s and U20s, while also connecting his work with provincial talent coaches at all four provinces and the age grade scrum coach leads [Seán Cronin (Munster), Aaron Dundon (Leinster), Niall Annett (Ulster) and Brett Wilkinson (Connacht)].
“For me, when it comes to scrummaging, it’s 90% about us and 10% about them. I think on this side of the world sometimes coaches spend too much time looking at what the opposition are doing. Actually look at your own process, look at how can you be better. If you get your stuff right, then it’s hard for the opposition to do what they want to do anyway.”
At the core of Toomey’s programme has been the introduction of new, focused training modules labelled “scrum club”, launched in collaboration with Eoin Power [Irish U20 Physiotherapist and Lead Pathway Physiotherapist].
“Scrum club is basically scrum conditioning exercises that help to improve a player physically and technically in regard to scrummaging,” Toomey explains, before jolting up to demonstrate visually.
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Toomey helped introduce 'scrum club' to Ireland underage and provincial camps. Ben Brady / INPHO
Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO
“So what is a strong pushing position? Neck strength in relation to scrum, core strength, how to hinge properly, how to bind properly, how to push properly, how to triple extension (ankle, then knee, then hip). Chin tuck, the neck stuff, the right chin tuck position takes my head and neck into neutral and it activates these muscles. You’ve got to teach them proud chest, teach them neutral pelvis, how your power comes from the ground. Simple things like traction, having the correct studs.
“You teach balance to their feet, knee over second toe. Scrummaging, to a degree, is like being a squatter on a squat rack. You want to be balanced, to be activated, to understand how to use your body safely and effectively, with safety the number one priority always.”
At the IRFU’s High Performance Centre in Abbotstown, Toomey sets up his scrum club sessions with a camera on either side of the scrum, and one overhead. Working with analysts Gordon Stirling and John Farrell, all of the sessions are recorded and shared with the players, who are expected to review the footage and address any work-ons in their own time away from camp.
I use a lot of visual feedback, and it’s made a big difference because the generation we’re dealing with now are really visual, they spend a lot of time on phones.
“Say you’re in a pushing position and I look at you and say your hips are higher than your chest, but if you feel strong there, you may or may not change. Whereas if I show it to you on the iPad and say have a look there, you’ll go, ‘Oh yeah, my hips are a bit high’, and you instantly adjust that.
“And scrum club is for all eight forwards, because your back five generates 62% of the power in your scrum. I would talk about all eight being ‘on the bus’. I would do a bit of work with Mike Cron, and Crono said his greatest achievement with the All Blacks was getting all eight forwards to fully commit to the scrum in that moment, that’s a very powerful thing and if you can do that then you’ve got a pretty good chance.”
The idea is to engrain these habits into young forwards at an earlier age, creating a stronger scrum culture in Ireland.
“Scrum culture is educating young players on the importance of the scrum and how important they are to the scrum.
“The scrum is important, but the scrum is only a problem when it’s a problem. For us in this country, we need to double down on it because the brutal reality at the top end is that if you can’t scrummage against teams like South Africa, New Zealand, France, England, they will keep going to the scrum and you’ll concede penalties and that’s going to cost you field position, cost you points, cost you games.
Ireland had a tough day at the scrum against South Africa last November. Gary Carr / INPHO
Gary Carr / INPHO / INPHO
“So we compete through early intervention, by making players realise how important it is. Anything you invest time in, you’ll get a return. Like, South Africa have a massive rugby-playing population, genetically bigger people, and they’ve doubled down on scrum. In comparison to South Africa, we have a small rugby-playing population, and we don’t have as many big people. To compete against them we have to double down and be technically excellent. We need all eight fully on the bus, fully committed to scrummaging, and we need them optimal.”
And this is where the chief, long-standing worry around Ireland’s scrum comes in. At the heart of it, we’re a nation where props with the size and power of a Cian Healy or a Tadhg Furlong tend to be the exception.
“There’s no question, we have fewer big men than in some of the other countries, but we still have enough of them.
Size matters, but it can’t be the only thing, and there’s always outliers and always people who can punch above their weight.
“But we can’t afford any passengers. They (other nations) might get away with it because often they have a size or weight differential. They might get away with being a couple of per cent off, but we have to be bang on the money. If we’re technically bang on the money, if our mindset is right, we can compete.”
Toomey has reviewed his first year in the job and made changes to his approach. Feeling players were perhaps overloaded with information when they joined the underage Ireland camps, he’s now mic’d up and recorded. There’s an understanding players can’t be expected to take everything on board first time around, but an agreement they’ll follow up by reviewing the sessions to lock the information in.
The equipment has also improved. Toomey took a shine to ‘counter-scrum’ machines popular in South Africa and England, and asked IRFU Performance Director David Humphreys to dip into his pockets. Since late last year, seven counter-scrum machines have been in operation in Ireland.
“They’re now in all our training centres,” Toomey says. “There’s one in UL, one in Cork in the new Centre of Excellence, one in UCD, one in the Dexcom, one above in Ulster and two in the HPC.
“There are two pads and a foot plate. You can adjust that foot plate depending on your player’s height and the hip angle you want him to start at; there are three different resistance bands, and then you can put some weight on it if you want. So you put your forward on it and if they push up, it won’t budge, but if you push straight it’ll move and then you get their technique right.
“Then once they’ve fired in you can crank it. I can crank a loosehead like a tighthead cranking on his arms, so he’s got to really fight to come back up, or if I’ve got Sam Bishti (Ireland U20s tighthead) on it, if I start lifting up, Bishti’s being opened up like a loosehead would open up a tighthead and he’s got to fight back down.
The highly-rated Sami Bishti is working with Toomey at U20s level. Dan Sheridan / INPHO
Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO
“It’s a brilliant piece of kit. As I said, your back five generates 62% of the power in your scrum, and for every one degree you fire up you use 2% power. So if you’re up 10 degrees, think of how much power you’ve lost. In a maul it’s the same thing.
“So that’s another little part of the jigsaw, and now guys in the gym down in Munster or wherever can do a bench press, jump on the counter-scrum machine and do three or four reps by themselves.”
When Toomey first gets his hands on these young props they’re fresh from playing schools level, where the 1.5m push is enforced at scrum time. Some argue that rule is an impediment to developing more powerful props at a younger age.
Toomey understands why the rule is in place while acknowledging the significant learning curve that follows when those players step up to what he calls “big boy rugby”.
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“I can see why the 1.5m is there for health and safety reasons. I get that, no problem. But it is very steep when you go into U20s and it’s big boy rugby. No one’s coming to save you when you’re down at Virgin Media Park and you’re playing England or whoever and if you can’t scrummage, you’re going to be exploited.”
Toomey feels the 1.5m can remain in place while also allowing for a more competitive scrum battle.
“I’m coaching the scrum for 30 years, there’s times in a scrum session where the scrum goes down and I’m not sure why. So from a refereeing point of view it’s incredibly hard to referee a scrum. It’s important to say that.
“It’s difficult with the 1.5m because you do have a certain mindset and I can understand that, but what we’re trying to get to is if we can still have a contest within that 1.5m. So if there is a clear and obvious infringement, it is sanctioned. The dominant scrum should be rewarded within the 1.5m, and if there are consequences (for infringements), those consequences will lead to better coaching and then that guy in the corner who mightn’t have got an opportunity because a coach was happy enough to put a back row in (the front row), all of a sudden he’s getting developed and he could be the next Tadhg Furlong.”
The final round of the U20 Six Nations – Ireland are currently second – will take up most of his time over the coming weeks, but after that Toomey will dip back into the younger age grade squads.
“This Easter I’m going to Vichy with the U18s for 12 days, that’s an opportunity to work with that scrum almost two years out from the U20s Six Nations. The earlier the intervention, it gives them more time to work on what they need to work on and I can follow those through then across U18s, U19s and U20s. So hopefully they’re going to be in a way better place than say last year’s U20s, who would have had none of that. Two years is a long time.
“The stuff you’re working on, it’s not rocket science, it’ll be posture, neck strength, hip hinge, binding drills, how to push properly. All of that scrum club stuff.”
It’s too early to know whether Toomey will uncover the next Tadhg Furlong, but as he enters his second year in the job he feels the fruits of his labour are already beginning to show with the current crop of U20s.
“We’ve played three games this year, and I’ve had those guys for the year beforehand. We were 75% effective against France, against Italy we were 100% effective and against England we were 100% effective. So it’s coming.”
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'Power comes from the ground' - meet the man tasked with improving Ireland's 'scrum culture'
SEAMUS TOOMEY LOVES scrums. It doesn’t take long to figure this out, but it becomes increasingly evident over the course of our conversation as the Limerick native decides words are not enough to make his point, and so walls, desks and chairs all get recruited to demonstrations around technique and best form.
The IRFU’s Performance Pathway Scrum Coach comes across as a man who has been itching to talk about scrums all day, even if he’s not long off the training pitch with the Ireland U20s.
“I’m really passionate about scrummaging,” Toomey says.
“I suppose I have a track record of producing front rows in Blackrock and I wanted to see if I could have the same impact nationally.”
It’s quite the career turn for a man who spent eight years as a prison officer in Mountjoy upon first moving to Dublin in 1998. In the mid-2000s Toomey went back to college to study physiotherapy, a pivot that sat nicely with a love of coaching rugby.
As a new life took shape Toomey would spend the bulk of his coaching career at Blackrock College, where Oli Jager, Jeremy Loughman, Joe McCarthy and Caelan Doris were just some of the talented forwards to slog it out on the training pitches. Go back a little further and Tadhg Furlong, Jack Conan and Tadhg Beirne crossed his path with the Leinster U19s. Navan RFC and the Trinity U20s also featured on the CV which landed in the IRFU’s inbox in late 2024, expressing interest in a newly created role aimed to “aid the development of front row forwards across the Provincial and National Performance Pathways”.
A year in, that role has become a little more clearly defined. Toomey, a self-described ‘proud Bruff RFC man’, spent most of the last 12 months moving between the Ireland U18s, U19s and U20s, while also connecting his work with provincial talent coaches at all four provinces and the age grade scrum coach leads [Seán Cronin (Munster), Aaron Dundon (Leinster), Niall Annett (Ulster) and Brett Wilkinson (Connacht)].
“For me, when it comes to scrummaging, it’s 90% about us and 10% about them. I think on this side of the world sometimes coaches spend too much time looking at what the opposition are doing. Actually look at your own process, look at how can you be better. If you get your stuff right, then it’s hard for the opposition to do what they want to do anyway.”
At the core of Toomey’s programme has been the introduction of new, focused training modules labelled “scrum club”, launched in collaboration with Eoin Power [Irish U20 Physiotherapist and Lead Pathway Physiotherapist].
“Scrum club is basically scrum conditioning exercises that help to improve a player physically and technically in regard to scrummaging,” Toomey explains, before jolting up to demonstrate visually.
“So what is a strong pushing position? Neck strength in relation to scrum, core strength, how to hinge properly, how to bind properly, how to push properly, how to triple extension (ankle, then knee, then hip). Chin tuck, the neck stuff, the right chin tuck position takes my head and neck into neutral and it activates these muscles. You’ve got to teach them proud chest, teach them neutral pelvis, how your power comes from the ground. Simple things like traction, having the correct studs.
“You teach balance to their feet, knee over second toe. Scrummaging, to a degree, is like being a squatter on a squat rack. You want to be balanced, to be activated, to understand how to use your body safely and effectively, with safety the number one priority always.”
At the IRFU’s High Performance Centre in Abbotstown, Toomey sets up his scrum club sessions with a camera on either side of the scrum, and one overhead. Working with analysts Gordon Stirling and John Farrell, all of the sessions are recorded and shared with the players, who are expected to review the footage and address any work-ons in their own time away from camp.
“Say you’re in a pushing position and I look at you and say your hips are higher than your chest, but if you feel strong there, you may or may not change. Whereas if I show it to you on the iPad and say have a look there, you’ll go, ‘Oh yeah, my hips are a bit high’, and you instantly adjust that.
“And scrum club is for all eight forwards, because your back five generates 62% of the power in your scrum. I would talk about all eight being ‘on the bus’. I would do a bit of work with Mike Cron, and Crono said his greatest achievement with the All Blacks was getting all eight forwards to fully commit to the scrum in that moment, that’s a very powerful thing and if you can do that then you’ve got a pretty good chance.”
The idea is to engrain these habits into young forwards at an earlier age, creating a stronger scrum culture in Ireland.
“Scrum culture is educating young players on the importance of the scrum and how important they are to the scrum.
“The scrum is important, but the scrum is only a problem when it’s a problem. For us in this country, we need to double down on it because the brutal reality at the top end is that if you can’t scrummage against teams like South Africa, New Zealand, France, England, they will keep going to the scrum and you’ll concede penalties and that’s going to cost you field position, cost you points, cost you games.
“So we compete through early intervention, by making players realise how important it is. Anything you invest time in, you’ll get a return. Like, South Africa have a massive rugby-playing population, genetically bigger people, and they’ve doubled down on scrum. In comparison to South Africa, we have a small rugby-playing population, and we don’t have as many big people. To compete against them we have to double down and be technically excellent. We need all eight fully on the bus, fully committed to scrummaging, and we need them optimal.”
And this is where the chief, long-standing worry around Ireland’s scrum comes in. At the heart of it, we’re a nation where props with the size and power of a Cian Healy or a Tadhg Furlong tend to be the exception.
“There’s no question, we have fewer big men than in some of the other countries, but we still have enough of them.
“But we can’t afford any passengers. They (other nations) might get away with it because often they have a size or weight differential. They might get away with being a couple of per cent off, but we have to be bang on the money. If we’re technically bang on the money, if our mindset is right, we can compete.”
Toomey has reviewed his first year in the job and made changes to his approach. Feeling players were perhaps overloaded with information when they joined the underage Ireland camps, he’s now mic’d up and recorded. There’s an understanding players can’t be expected to take everything on board first time around, but an agreement they’ll follow up by reviewing the sessions to lock the information in.
The equipment has also improved. Toomey took a shine to ‘counter-scrum’ machines popular in South Africa and England, and asked IRFU Performance Director David Humphreys to dip into his pockets. Since late last year, seven counter-scrum machines have been in operation in Ireland.
“They’re now in all our training centres,” Toomey says. “There’s one in UL, one in Cork in the new Centre of Excellence, one in UCD, one in the Dexcom, one above in Ulster and two in the HPC.
“There are two pads and a foot plate. You can adjust that foot plate depending on your player’s height and the hip angle you want him to start at; there are three different resistance bands, and then you can put some weight on it if you want. So you put your forward on it and if they push up, it won’t budge, but if you push straight it’ll move and then you get their technique right.
“Then once they’ve fired in you can crank it. I can crank a loosehead like a tighthead cranking on his arms, so he’s got to really fight to come back up, or if I’ve got Sam Bishti (Ireland U20s tighthead) on it, if I start lifting up, Bishti’s being opened up like a loosehead would open up a tighthead and he’s got to fight back down.
“It’s a brilliant piece of kit. As I said, your back five generates 62% of the power in your scrum, and for every one degree you fire up you use 2% power. So if you’re up 10 degrees, think of how much power you’ve lost. In a maul it’s the same thing.
“So that’s another little part of the jigsaw, and now guys in the gym down in Munster or wherever can do a bench press, jump on the counter-scrum machine and do three or four reps by themselves.”
When Toomey first gets his hands on these young props they’re fresh from playing schools level, where the 1.5m push is enforced at scrum time. Some argue that rule is an impediment to developing more powerful props at a younger age.
Toomey understands why the rule is in place while acknowledging the significant learning curve that follows when those players step up to what he calls “big boy rugby”.
“I can see why the 1.5m is there for health and safety reasons. I get that, no problem. But it is very steep when you go into U20s and it’s big boy rugby. No one’s coming to save you when you’re down at Virgin Media Park and you’re playing England or whoever and if you can’t scrummage, you’re going to be exploited.”
Toomey feels the 1.5m can remain in place while also allowing for a more competitive scrum battle.
“I’m coaching the scrum for 30 years, there’s times in a scrum session where the scrum goes down and I’m not sure why. So from a refereeing point of view it’s incredibly hard to referee a scrum. It’s important to say that.
“It’s difficult with the 1.5m because you do have a certain mindset and I can understand that, but what we’re trying to get to is if we can still have a contest within that 1.5m. So if there is a clear and obvious infringement, it is sanctioned. The dominant scrum should be rewarded within the 1.5m, and if there are consequences (for infringements), those consequences will lead to better coaching and then that guy in the corner who mightn’t have got an opportunity because a coach was happy enough to put a back row in (the front row), all of a sudden he’s getting developed and he could be the next Tadhg Furlong.”
The final round of the U20 Six Nations – Ireland are currently second – will take up most of his time over the coming weeks, but after that Toomey will dip back into the younger age grade squads.
“This Easter I’m going to Vichy with the U18s for 12 days, that’s an opportunity to work with that scrum almost two years out from the U20s Six Nations. The earlier the intervention, it gives them more time to work on what they need to work on and I can follow those through then across U18s, U19s and U20s. So hopefully they’re going to be in a way better place than say last year’s U20s, who would have had none of that. Two years is a long time.
“The stuff you’re working on, it’s not rocket science, it’ll be posture, neck strength, hip hinge, binding drills, how to push properly. All of that scrum club stuff.”
It’s too early to know whether Toomey will uncover the next Tadhg Furlong, but as he enters his second year in the job he feels the fruits of his labour are already beginning to show with the current crop of U20s.
“We’ve played three games this year, and I’ve had those guys for the year beforehand. We were 75% effective against France, against Italy we were 100% effective and against England we were 100% effective. So it’s coming.”
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