The issue of scrum dominance was a big talking point on the latest episode of The Left Wing podcast as Luke Fitzgerald, Will Slattery, Jonathan Bradley and Rúaidhrí O’Connor discussed its place in the game.
South Africa used the scrum as a real weapon against England to book their final place, but is that good for the game?
Meanwhile, the lads further discussed Ireland’s World Cup exit and previewed the final clash between the All Blacks and the Springboks.
Don’t forget to join Will and Rúaidhrí again on Friday for another Left Wing show as they look ahead to the World Cup final.
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37 Comments
GOOD ANALYSIS 🇿🇦
The island of Ireland will be cheering on SAfrica! Not smug NZ..🇿🇦
Trouble is, scrums are no longer just a means to restart the game, in fact they are now a major means to get a penalty, and a tool to waste time. It’s not about removing scrums, it’s about removing the bullshit that goes along with it. Timewasting, falling over, angling in, holding ball at 8s feet…just get on with it for goodness sake. These are professionals deliberately milking scrums for any penalty. Maybe have a time limit to set and get the ball out…
This cat in France is an absolute tool bag !!! Mate get over it , Ireland shat the bed again !
"What ever the little song New Zealand would sing it's not shade on zombie " muppet
Wise up guys give the ABs some credit they were awesome against us , we need wingers with real out and out pace so we can score from anywhere like NZ does with Jordan and the Boks have with Kolbe
Sour Irish again 😂 Rassie in your head for sure. SA is in a Final and Ireland aren't. Instead of praise they criticise SA. Pathetic
Honestly south africa did not make any mistake by using the same team from franch against England, if there is one thing the coaches got right in this WC is that no team can pinpoint there game plan, south africa in both games only responded if a team scored against them, this week the AB management is sitting with there hands in there hair, how do you prepare if you dont know what you gonna play against, in one of there pool games they had 4 scrumhalves in one game was that a mistake? Not at all, they are flying nicely under the radar, and i think on Saturday they are gonna shock the world
The reason SA is in the final is because they have a 33 man A team now get that in yr heads
If you award the short arm the team will just call for the scrum again, then you will have a entire game of scrums. I love the scrum, and the Ref got the penelty right on the weekend, England prop dropped a kniee and that is a penelty right there, whatever happened after the drop knee does not matter.
The problem with the Irish scrum v NZ was that Porter did not adjust to the referee. Hence, 1 penalty became 3 penalties. Also. the ABs had the loosehead on all 5 scrums, so he was always going to be under scrutiny as he had to be the aggressor.
As for the English game, in a word, the only problem with the scrums was that their replacement props were shit. That's it. Up until then, scrums were fine.
This overanalysing of the scrum because the Northern Hemisphere teams lost is just grieving, isn't it? No one in NZ or RSA is talking about it. Certainly not to the degree you clowns are. I'm picking if both Ireland & England won, scrums would not be under the current super mega microscope they are.
As for the Irish maul, non-try, that happened at minute 71. A conversion would mean a 3pt lead with 7 minutes left. More than enough time for NZ to win. And saying things like "shoulda won" is bullshit grief talk. Move on lads.
You fellas are all over the show.
You've said NZ will win coz they've had an easier run.
But prior to nz v ireland you criticized nz for not having been tested and wouldn't be battle tested…..
So which is "easy" is better or "tested" is better
Bunch of arrogant leprechauns post a nice humbling by the mighty ABs. Next time don’t disrespect the Haka. Next time don’t gloat about your easier QF against the ABs. Next time do t overhype average players like Johnny Choker. (How was that pen kick choke?)
I think what Ireland will take from this all is:
– they are definitely at the top table now. They have 23 that can compete and beat anyone on any day
– but they need 33, not 23 so they can cycle key positions with confidence as they go
– RWC knock out rugby is just a little more cut throat than what anyone faces in whatever tournament between the RWC years… and this is a learned process for coaches and players… and Ireland are in that learning phase now
I’m a Bok supporter and can see that the 1% difference in fatigue multiplied by ‘do whatever it takes’ ends up being the difference maker…
Love the way you fellas play… and your supporters are fkn brilliant
They are not as good as everyone else but they have the best players in the world cup. Do you guys listen to yourselves?
Springboks had two big games pre world cup and a hell of a road to the final They were tired against england. Lots of criticism going on here but still sa has 3 ww wins going for 4. Rest my case
Go watch that maul defences agains, England came in from the side and also collapsed and lifted South African players.
In terms of taking players off, it's about the team and not the individual, they will take whoever off if it will help the team. There's no ego's. Ireland should have taken Sexton off in the 60th against NZ, you needed pace.
Complaints about the scrums, can only 😂 at the comment.
They're not as good 😂 this is laughable, just because they don't play the way you want them to…
Typical of this podcast can never give credit to South Africa.
Yes, the resets are the worst thing.
Ireland: THE FUCKIN LINEOUT! Sort it out.
Trust me, as much of the limelight as Rassie gets, make no mistake Jaques Nienaber is rugby by spreadsheet. They're the perfect foil for each other. Rugby's first genuine double act coach. Rant and Jeck.
You cant take the scrum out the game, thats the great thing about union but I do agree scrums, which lets face it, physics doesn't love (i mean tug of war would make more sense), are tricky and annoyingly can have such a dramatic influence on games. But you also have to be super strict on it because weaker scrums (ahem … aussies) will manipulate the scrum to get away with having a weaker scrum. For a long time I have thought about differenciating a scrum pen from a foul play penality. If a team gets a scrum pen on opponents ball, the scrum is redone but its a turnover. If a scrum pen is awarded to team with possession then the scrum is marched 10 + meters up the field. It can march 30m up the field before it converts to a full pen unless it is in the 22, in which case it goes to a full pen. That way u can have a strong scrum and it can still be a real weapon but defensive team only has to have 1 good scrum to 'get away with it' as it were which still encourages good defensive scrumming.
Why does this episode remind me of priests talk phone line on Father Ted? 😂
Does anyone else have a headache. The level of analysis on this show is poor at best. Is this what passes for analysis in IRE? Guy in white shirt the only semi-coherent analyst here. Do quit your day jobs boys. 😊
Howre you still talking about ireland? They lost, get over it already. Youre worse than New Zealand media, and thats saying something.
Saffas loves the scrum, and envy team that is on top……loves it as well. It is war and it is part of rugby’s dna
4 MORE YEARS CHOKERS😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
I think Ireland loosies had flat games(which all players get at times, not just from attrition), while Allblack loosies had massive peak games. NZ error rate was tiny, yet for all that Ireland still nearly beat them, just unfortunate is was in a quarter.
Small margins in knockout rugby, less so in series.
Don't forget that at the start of their 17 game run last year the allblacks thrashed Ireland before Ireland took 2 games from them.
what everyone expected is not what you got , what else can you say .
Mario Rosenstock was a nice touch
There's a reason the final is being played between two nations with 3 WC's apiece.
Winning a world cup doesn't happen just because all the talking heads convince each other that their team will win.
80 minutes on the day.
All im hearing are a lot of excuses for Irelands loss a great team will always win if the other side lost 2 players and a penalty try against them bear in mind Irelands tries came when NZ were down to 14
That was what I said right from the start of the world cup, @Springboks have 3 or 4 men to take up a position.
True about Irish not having good backup and bench. One could see it the last 15min against all blacks
If you want to be the best in the world for a number of years, you need a all round team and need to be 70 to 80% better than any other team in all aspects of the game. If a team struggle with certain aspects of the game, need to develop those players to get better
South African here. I love listening to Irish analysis.
Why are there soooo many Irish rugby chat shows. You don’t see nearly as many Welsh Scots dare I say it Pom chatshows. Talk the talk ?
Do people really get how much the France game took out of the front line players? The semi was about getting through with the front line players getting away with as little game time as possible and getting them refreshed.