We’ve heard the line many times. Something happens in a scrum. A TV commentator lacking international experience turns to the ex-pro beside them: “What in God’s name happened there?” Cue some variation along the theme: “Sure it’s a scrum. I’ve never been in one, how do you expect me to explain that mess?”
With apologies to the handful of ex-frontrows doing sterling work on the airwaves, for the most part, flashy backs get the good gigs. They are happy to admit their lack of knowledge and, for some reason, there is little outcry at someone who is paid to talk about rugby lacking requisite knowledge of the set-piece that makes the sport unique.
In that spirit, let us turn to the expert. Props are people too. Enter former Ireland tighthead Mike Ross, who, thankfully for us all, is more than happy to talk scrums.
Last Saturday’s scrum demolition at the hand of South Africa instantly called to mind a similar battering - Twickenham, 2012. Ross was on the park that day, only to hurt his neck in the first scrum. Tom Court, nominally a loosehead, had to pack down on the opposite side. These were the days of only one prop on the bench.
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A set-piece bloodbath ensued. Both Ross and Court have joked that the carnage prompted World Rugby to add an extra prop to the bench. Best to not have lads scrumming out of position. Who’d have thunk it?
“We got a doing over,” acknowledges Ross, recalling the Twickenham nightmare. “But I don’t think the South Africa game was as bad.”
Come again?
In 2012, Ireland conceded a penalty try, six penalties and three scrums against the head. On Saturday, Ireland conceded a penalty try, infringed nine times and lost two props to the bin. The numbers aren’t particularly close.
“If you think back to the last few times we played South Africa, aside from a penalty try in Ellis Park [2024], they’ve been pretty even,” says Ross of the set-piece.
“If James Ryan stays on the field, does it get to that level? I don’t think so. They probably would have got a few penalties out of us but it would have been fairly even.”
Hang on, Ryan is a secondrow. Not one of the more rotund chaps paid to lock down a scrum. What’s he got to do with it? A lot, it turns out.
Without Joe McCarthy, Ryan is Ireland’s best option to scrum at tighthead lock. When he left the pitch, Ryan Baird moved into the secondrow. He’s no mug, but he lacks Ryan’s experience in the important role of sticking his head up an international prop’s arse, supporting his team-mate against a burly ‘Bok. On the bench, Ireland had two backrows in Cian Prendergast and Jack Conan. No lock.
The domino effect of McCarthy’s absence and Ryan’s card was Bundee Aki packing down at six. “He’s a big boy and he’s powerful, but would Bundee know to push in on Tadhg [Furlong] and help him out if the picture is changing, if it’s skewing around?” asks Ross.
“My very last professional game, I played for the Barbarians against Ulster. I had in the row behind me Patricio Albacete, big unit. Paul Willemse. Then Joe Tekori at blindside, another 130kg beast. I had Chris Masoe at number eight and then [Thierry] Dusautoir on the far side. ‘Is this what it’s like scrummaging in France?’ It was like scrummaging on easy mode.”
Size matters. As well the experience of the big lads at pushing hard in the scrum. According to Ross, before Ireland had players shoving out of position, they were already giving up 30kg in the pack. By the time of the penalty try at the end of the first half, with Ireland scrumming with seven forwards and 12 men on the pitch, the gap was closer to 150kg.
Saturday wasn’t pretty, but it is at least in part explainable by personnel chaos. What, then, about the frontrows themselves? The darks arts. The skulduggery we know goes on but don’t know how to spot. How did South Africa open the gaps for their superior size to burst through?
“The first scrum, usually as a tighthead you try to head in at 11 o’clock, so to speak. Thomas du Toit was at 10 or nine. If Ireland were doing that, I’d be sitting there applauding.” Right. What have clocks got to do with it?
The scrum battle comes down to a race to the opposition hooker. Get him out of position and the whole thing implodes.
Malcolm Marx - “the best scrummaging hooker since William Servat”, in Ross’s mind - is trying to beat Dan Sheehan on his own. (He did a good job of it more often than not.) Du Toit, the tighthead, is trying to get under Sheehan’s left shoulder. Boan Venter, the loosehead, is trying to dismantle Sheehan’s right shoulder. All while Messrs Sheehan, Furlong and Porter try do the same to Marx. It’s why the first engage is crucial. If you can “win the six inches”, as Ross calls it, and force the opposition frontrow to take a step back, then you have first dibs at sending the hooker skywards.
To do this, a prop must overpower his opposite man, leaving him behind and burrowing in on the hooker. The easiest way is to scrum at an angle, aim directly for the hooker’s shoulder. In theory, that is illegal. Props must scrum straight and square. It’s why you see plenty of press on Porter’s hips swinging out, leaving him scrumming at an angle towards the opposition hooker.
For what it’s worth, Ross says this is largely a “PR campaign” against Porter. Opponents send clips to referees “because they’re afraid of him, he’s so strong and can cause a lot of damage”.
At Saturday’s first scrum, tighthead du Toit took a risk with his angle, according to Ross. He went street for Sheehan, leaving Porter behind and dismantling the Irish scrum. Penalty for the ‘Boks. Stood on the other side of the scrum, Matthew Carley didn’t spot Toit’s shoulders on set-up pointing to nine or 10 o’clock, instead of 11. In theory, you’re supposed to be at 12. “No prop stays square and straight,” says Ross.
Du Toit’s risk paid off. As far as Carley was concerned, South Africa were legally dominant. “This was the worst picture from South Africa in terms of the angle of the tighthead,” says Ross. “The other ones are more within the limits of the law. That’s worth taking a risk because you set the tone.”
Ireland’s penalised actions were more often than not Sheehan popping up or Porter swinging out. All occurred because of du Toit and Marx’s success in breaking binds. That was ultimately the game’s dominant scrum narrative.
One later scrum (granted after three South African penalties) was more equal as Sheehan prevented Marx from getting his way. “Sheehan has fractured Marx’s joint,” explains Ross. “Before, Marx was keeping that shoulder square and down, Sheehan couldn’t get through and he was going backwards. Now, Sheehan has gotten through. This is what they need to do more of.” Both hookers popped up and a reset was called, albeit Furlong prematurely celebrated what he thought was Sheehan alone breaking through.
In the second half, Ireland changed tack. Scrums started collapsing, instead of splintering. By moving feet slightly back, you bring the height of the scrum down. “A lot of bigger guys prefer be scrummaging up at a certain height,” says Ross. “You take them low, it’s harder for them to bring their full force to bear.”
The risk is that feet slip out from underneath you more easily if scrummaging lower. The below example sees Finlay Bealham go down on engage, while opposite man Steenekamp has his feet slip behind him. Aki, scrumming behind Bealham, is convinced that Steenekamp should be pinged for bringing it down.
No penalty came, but Paddy McCarthy wasn’t so lucky when he was binned for a handful of infringements, both for collapsing and being forced to swing out courtesy of Wilco Louw leaving him behind.
It’s difficult to tell from just one camera angle, but South Africa could easily have been looking to collapse themselves, once Ireland went low. Their first-half dominance paid off. “The scrum is a good example of compound interest,” says Ross. “It’s a knock-on effect, Ireland are just in survival mode. If it goes down, it’s on them.”
Tired yet? We’ve discussed just three scrums of the 16 on the day. Figuring this out is a lot to ask of one official who can only stand on one side of the scrum. In theory, the assistant on the far side is supposed to call things in. It takes a big personality to tell a referee one team is illegal on the left while he’s focused on the other lot acting the maggot on the right.
“This is where I think there’s a need for an ex-prop in a van,” says Ross. Ah here, no more bunkers.
The overriding message? Don’t panic. This was a historically bad day for the Irish scrum, but there was mitigation. On another day, when Joe McCarthy is fit and Edwin Edogbo has been fast-tracked, the size deficit won’t be as stark. Card chaos won’t always be this bad. Prop techniques will improve and officials won’t be as focused on rewarding the side going forward, instead looking more on how that dominance was achieved (“Ignore the dominant scrum at your peril,” is the verdict of one former referee).
“We do have good scrummagers, the Irish scrum has been decent the last few years,” affirms Ross. “What happened is no harm. I’d much rather have it now than at the 2027 World Cup.”
