Two snapshots will be nagging away in Irish minds before this weekend’s visit to southwest London. The first is the sobering sight of Tadhg Furlong and Dan Sheehan, both distinguished British & Irish Lions, being rocketed skywards by Italy’s power in the set scrums last Saturday. And the second dates back 14 years to another Anglo-Irish contest which epitomised the “No scrum, no win” ethos that remains non-negotiable at the highest level.
The airborne Furlong footage has certainly caught the eye of England’s frontrowers and a quick dip into the archives will also remind both teams of what can happen when things up front go pear-shaped. In 2012 Ireland were left badly exposed after Mike Ross injured his neck at the first scrum and ended up conceding a penalty try, six scrum penalties and three scrums against the head as they subsided to a humbling 30-9 defeat.
As recently as 2022 Ireland also conceded six scrum penalties against England at Twickenham but, on that occasion, were bailed out by Charlie Ewels’ early red card. So little wonder there is a slight hint of green foreboding this time, particularly bearing in mind the Irish pack’s torrid scrummaging examination at the hands of South Africa in Dublin in November.
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England are not yet as formidable a scrummaging unit as the Boks but are steadily advancing in that area. Amid the chaos around them at Murrayfield, their scrum was among the few bright spots and there is a clear desire for more of the same against Ireland. “It’s an area we want to go after, not because it’s Ireland but because a solid set piece is what we pride ourselves on,” said England tighthead Joe Heyes.
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“We were disappointed with the result on Saturday, but from a scrum perspective the frontrow were quite happy with how we went. The scrum is becoming increasingly more powerful in games now. You see it in World Cups. Even if you’ve made a 50-metre break through the middle I’d still personally feel I’d had a bad day if the scrum doesn’t go well.”
Heyes (26) has served a lengthy apprenticeship at Leicester under Dan Cole, part of the dominant English frontrow in the aforementioned 2012 fixture. The former remains respectful of Furlong, Sheehan, Jeremy Loughman et al but could not fail to notice the pressure the Italian pack were able to exert. “I think the Italians are a real threat at the moment. I’m so impressed with the two games they’ve played. We’ve even looked at how their back five have been initiating the initial movement; it’s not been their frontrow. Technically they look brilliant right now; it should be an exciting match up [in Rome] in a couple of weeks.”
From past experience, though, Heyes and his fellow frontrowers know Ireland will be working furiously this week to shore up their scrum and to show more positive pictures to Italian referee Andrea Piardi. “You don’t want to keep doing the same thing and expecting a different result; that’s the definition of insanity,” said Heyes, referencing the constant need for props to adapt to changing in-game circumstances. “You’ll go in with a plan and sometimes that plan doesn’t work. Then it’s about how you can adapt on the go. We do a lot of practice around that in training.”
England also want to ensure the scrums do not descend into a stop-start mess and instead offer crucial rewards to the stronger pack. There are now English cries of “Get to the contest” audible over the ref mic after the initial scrum engagement to help reinforce that mindset.
“What we don’t want is 50-50s when you engage and go down and it’s almost the toss of a coin for the referee,” said Heyes. “The contest is when the scrum stays up and it’s about who’s going forwards and backwards. We don’t want scrums to go down because then it brings the referee into it. We want it be nice and clean.”
If that sounds faintly ominous from an Irish perspective it would definitely suit England’s forwards as they look to bounce back from their Scottish disappointment. And to raise the emotional stakes another notch, Heyes has had this particular date circled on his calendar for months. His mother, Rachel, is Irish and, at the last count, 21 uncles, cousins and Irish friends will be in attendance.
The only problem, said Heyes, is that the majority will be cheering on the visitors. “There’ll be a good mix in terms of who they’re supporting. I reckon it’ll be 60-40 to Ireland, to be honest. This fixture is special to my family, so from a personal point of view it’s quite an exciting game.” Particularly if the Irish scrum shows any early sign of back-pedalling as the pressure builds. – Guardian
