Pondering the scrums during le Crunch, 2nd Half

(c) Martin Bureau, AFP

Picking up from my previous post where we looked at the scrums in the first half of the England/France round 1 game, we will examine the engagements of the second half and see how and why France continued its dominance at this set piece. 

Second Half

We have to wait 11 minutes for the first test, and by this point an entirely new French front row is on, and Mako Vunipola has just stepped on to the field for his 14th cap to replace Marler at loosehead for England. Other things happened in the game as Luther Burrell has scored his first try in his first Test, and England now lead 18-16. I am going to take a leap of faith to assume that the impact of Yoann Maestri for Alexandre Flanquart in the French second row is negligible. Either way, early shifts for these replacements who will shape the possession for each team for the remainder of the game. 


Scrum #4: Another French feed deep in France's half, at the 22 metre line, set up by an unfortunate knock on by Danny Care that could have easily gone for a try. This is

another great job by this pack to retain ball and it effectively away from the scrum. France No. 8 Louis Picamoles takes a run infield to set up the next phase. Seems like this scrum is a simple and innocuous, except that the left side of the scrum collapsed. This scrum will set the tone for the rest of the game. Rabah Slimani is the new French tighthead, and this is the forth cap for the Stade Francais prop.

Bad News Grip

 I'd like to point out the binding we see here: Vunipola has struggled to get a grasp of Slimani's side, and he has a poor grasp now as the ball is about to be put in. Slimani however has bound at Vunipola's armpit, which isn't exactly a great spot, but the key to this are the arm angles. Vunipola's outside shoulder is lowered by the far reach he has taken, where Slimani's right elbow and shoulder are raised, in a better position to command the engagement. He is able to swing his weight downwards, and because of Vunipola's extension and grip he is unable to hold himself up once the push really comes on.

And down we go

In the lead-up to the game there was some discussion about Vunipola's scrummaging and if he would be able to match up with the French, and boy did he not. The first scrum was the first in a long afternoon for the Saracen prop as we shall see. He could have easily been penalized as his elbow came down but Owens allowed play to go on, which the French can feel somewhat aggrieved about. However they still had control of the ball and Owens opted to keep the ball in play, so he would probably be commended by the IRB. 

Scrum #5: 58th minute now, Care has landed a cheeky drop goal to take England ahead 5 points and Tom Youngs is on at hooker for England. It is their put in after a French knock on. We're on the right side of the England half, just in from the 10 metre line, so space and incentive for an attacking play in this position. 

But, looking at their set up, not going to happen, as their backline is flat and Jack Nowell is hugging the touch line like it's his best friend. France recognize that a kick is likely on here, but unsure where it would be coming from. Anyways this is all only marginally related to the scrum, should England retain their ball they can continue playing the percentages instead of taking a chance offensively. If they lose it Picamoles and Maxime Medard have an ocean of space to create a two-on-one and a possible score. Let's quickly talk about the outcome!
I say quickly because a) this scrum is pretty vanilla and b) BBC footage for this one is poor. Plus it doesn't fit the "England were poor scrummagers" narrative I am building. If anything, the French scrum was almost compromised as Yannick Forestier nearly comes down, and his elbow grazes the earth, which you can kinda poorly see below.

lump of flesh on the left = Forestier elbow. Sexy.

Much like the previous scrum, there is no call from the officials and Billy Vunipola is able to pick to the right side of the field (into the French wheel, make sense of that) before offloading to Danny Care who puts a grubber down field.  









Scrum #6: Several minutes after Care has kicked the ball up right side of the pitch, we're in the French half because of a knock-on by les Bleus blindside Yannick Nyanga, and it is an England put in. Lee Dickson is on the pitch now in the 61 minute for Care at scrumhalf, and promptly feeds the ball into the feet of the English second row with his first touch and is penalized. Another turnover at the scrum by England.
The feed penalty is a soft out for Owens here as the scrum collapsed once again on the left side. It is becoming apparent that Vunipola cannot contain Slimani's power, and as is seen in the picture below, Vunipola is pulled down once the ball is put in.

In a crumpled heap, England's dreams of scrum parity

He has not adjusted his bind nor has he figured out a defence against Slimani's. I don't know what Vunipola is comfortable with, but at this point keeping his arm long and his shoulder lowered is allowing Slimani to roll over top of him, forcing him down.
*As an aside, I tried for like...30 minutes to make a .gif for this scrum, but the online stuff is just shitty, so if people have recommendations for applications they are confident in let me know

Scrum #7: We're in the 64th minute, deep in a rich vein of scrums, the 4th of 5 in 10 minutes. The new players in the front row will have settled in and Slimani is salivating at each opportunity to mangle Vunipola's credentials (which is good because he is not having a great impact around the field, with 6 metres over 3 carries and 6 tackles put in for his 32 minute cameo). Another English put in, and this time the scrum stays stable. The French are angling up on the shove, but the English hold, the ball is out the back and the English begin a back move that ends a minute later with a knock-on. The camera angles on this one aren't great and nothing of true consequence happens that I can capture. I mean, the left side goes down again, but the ball is out and Owens allows play to continue. Good for him. Jack Nowell though has different plans by dropping the ball, so we'll join the tight five players and walk our way over to the mark for a new pack down.

Scrum #8: French put-in here for a centre field scrum in their own half at roughly the 10-metre line, options on both sides for France. Ben Morgan is now at 8 for England, but meh, does not change our focus. We get to "Engage" and things are already disrupted on the left side of the scrum, which Owens whistles for a penalty against -surprise- Mako Vunipola, who is confused but shouldn't be. France punt the ball well into the England half (midway between the 10 and 22, if you are so inclined) and possession is once again theirs. Which is important because the stats have been slanted in England's favour for both possession and time in opposition territory.

"you ticklish, bro?"

Thought a close-up of the bind would be useful here. Slimani has been intentionally binding here since coming on and this is a pre-meditated tactic. I haven't watched his club games for Stade so I do not know if this is his standard grip, but he certainly entered the pitch knowing to target the top of the arm on Vunipola. Slimani is about a year and half older than his English counterpart, so we can only attribute so much to having more senior experience. It will be something to think about watching his future performances for les Bleus, where he binds and the outcome of the scrums. By going close to the armpit, he can pull or twist Mako's arm and can apply pressure to the shoulder that much easier to roll Vunipola over to the left. And as Vunipola's binding is low and he's maintaining a poor grip, his left arm really cannot be used to defend as he has no point of strength to channel between.

This is a great angle to see what is happening when Slimani is applying pressure to Vunipola, and hopefully provides some context to what I am trying to get across. Both players (the front rows closest to us) are in drastically different positions. Slimani is tight and compressed, a very square shape, while Vunipola is very spread out, hoping to fight the weight coming on to his left side. His left leg is now spread wide to his lift to try and provide balance. His body is long, so even if he can stay up there is no way he can drive once the ball comes in. Slimani's arm is now over top of Vunipola's shoulder and the twist is arm. You can barely make out the loosehead's arm now that it has been pushed down. Owens has been great, trying to foster running rugby, but by this point he and his officiating team will have in their mind the idea who the weak link is in the scrum and even if Slimani is doing something untoward to Mako, the precedent has been set. 

I'll look at one last, devastating scrum before wrapping this post up. If you're still here, congratulations. You had a free half hour in your life. But thank you.

Scrum #9: Dan Cole will be trying to forget this scrum for a long time. I don't think he will be able to, given the bulging disk in his neck (a: not funny, b:poor fella), and though he played the following game against Scotland I think this might be where he did the damage to himself. You see, Dan Cole is great at scrummaging, so when he get's annihilated like he did, it speak volumes about a) the outlier-ness of the engagement in question and b) the power that came through from Forestier and Szarzewski. So let's take a look shall we?
French put in to this scrum, and on the first engagement Cole actually wheels the scrum to the right, but there is a collapse on the left side. It happens quickly, and Owens calls a reset has he is unable to figure out who to punish (I didn't either, camera angles). By this point it is somewhat remarkable there has not been a card handed out to a prop, other officials (Allan Rolland *coughcough*) are not as forgiven. This is something I applaud Owens for, as carding a prop for scrummaging infractions is typically pointless and rarely even accurate. No matter. There is a another scrum to sort out.

 After the reset we can see how the packs have engaged and are higher than in any of the screen captures previously used. I don't know if they thought about this one ahead of time, I would err on the idea that it just happened, and that it worked out for France. Both teams are starting angle upwards in this picture, and as the pressure from all 16 men, and 1700kg or however much the combined weights of the packs are, the direction the front row will start to be pushed in is up. 

Riding the wave. Of spinal pain

Both packs are condensing in on each other, driving forward and up once the ball is put in. This can be seen by comparing how much closer the back foot is for each pack from the picture above. They have both come forward, and as a result the left side of the front is up, and Dan Cole is all the way up. Like, lifted off the ground up. I do not have a crystal-clear memory of every professional scrum Daniel Richard Cole has participated in, but I do not think I have ever seen him lifted up like that. Very rarely in test rugby is a prop lifted off the ground like this. Owens motions for a penalty but doesn't orate what the specific infraction is, just makes the motion of the front row coming up, and I don't see him gesture to a specific individual, but the penalty is attributed to Cole in the match report (you're welcome). 

Taking a look at the aerial shot, we can see Forestier has taken the "wide and in" angle I spoke about in the previous post (Scrum #3) and has gotten under Cole. He is driving in at an extreme angle (80 degrees?), which itself is a penalty, but goes uncalled, and now that the ball is in and the push is on he;s going forward. By hitting this angle and controlling the contact, he has shifted the England tighthead's angle inwards as well, with his head being solely under Szarzewski's chest. A note of mention for Bleus debutant Antoine Burban in the '20' jersey who is squarely behind Forestier's ass and driving in on it to make sure the prop is going into the England pack and not having his hips spin himself around. Normally Forestier's head would be pushing up and into the right side of Cole's chest if they engaged squarely, but now the Frenchmen is pushing right up and into his counterpart's jaw and neck, and with the angle of the packs going up, Cole's head is being forced up and out of the scrum by the combined efforts of the French prop and hooker. The tighthead could try and fight this, but there is a possibility he might end up unconscious given the pressure on his upper chest. It all happens in a matter of seconds, and suddenly he has a person view of the scrum from the crow's nest. 
With the penalty in good kicking range, the responsibility is handed to Maxime Machenaud to convert the kick, which he dutifully does and draws the score to 19-21, though the game is still in England's favour.

To avoid going into serious overkill I will end the post here. There are a couple more serious scrums in the remaining 11 minutes of this match, but as none really have a direct outcome on the scoreboard I will stop the boring death you've just experienced and leave that for the next post. Thank you for your eyes, enjoy your free time on this Earth. Hug your loved ones.