Riceandpeas
Academy Player
- Joined
- Feb 9, 2013
- Messages
- 1
Yesterdays usual pre-match overhyping of the Italian scrum was the latest in a long line of scrum myths that are peddled around. So I thought I'd try and get some other views. All week I'd been hearing that Scotland would be under pressure against a scrum that hasnt troubled us since Castrogiovanni had Allan Jacobson in bother about 5 years ago. Yesterdays match went exactly as I expected srummaging wise (one poor effort in the second half aside). Sure the Italians can hold their own more often than not in the scrum but I havent seen any sustained evidence of their apparently destructive scrum power against any 6 nations team for years.
The same goes for Argentina. Cant remember their last pushover or penalty try from a scrum. Again, im not trying to say that they are particularly weak but the scrum seems to be an area dogged by stereotypes. Ireland, one poor showing aside against England last year, are an example of a usually efficient scrum labelled as a basket case. There is also a tendency amongst northern hemisphere pundits to suggest that the All Black scrum is an area to target. When you've got backs like they have I wouldnt want to bother with trying to milk scrum penalties either. Just get the ball out and let the backs do their stuff.
In the case of latin teams, especially Italy, scrum plaudits appear to be the lazy, stereotypical area for praise for pundits and fans who dont know what else to identify as an area of particular strength.
Thoughts.......?
The same goes for Argentina. Cant remember their last pushover or penalty try from a scrum. Again, im not trying to say that they are particularly weak but the scrum seems to be an area dogged by stereotypes. Ireland, one poor showing aside against England last year, are an example of a usually efficient scrum labelled as a basket case. There is also a tendency amongst northern hemisphere pundits to suggest that the All Black scrum is an area to target. When you've got backs like they have I wouldnt want to bother with trying to milk scrum penalties either. Just get the ball out and let the backs do their stuff.
In the case of latin teams, especially Italy, scrum plaudits appear to be the lazy, stereotypical area for praise for pundits and fans who dont know what else to identify as an area of particular strength.
Thoughts.......?
