We need to talk about scrums.
There were a lot of them in this game. Eighteen of them to
be precise.
In the first half in particular Edinburgh chose the scrum as
their preferred weapon. That in itself is fine. I was a prop and there’s
nothing better than a scrum when you have the upper hand in that department.
However when you get up from a scrum where you’ve pushed the
opposition back and perhaps given your direct opponent his first taste of man-made
flight only to discover that the backs have messed it up and at the next
breakdown you’re 20 yards back, that is hard to take.
This is pro rugby though and you very rarely score off the
first phase. A little more work is usually required. Again though, if you choose a scrum as an
option at a penalty and then don’t do anything constructive with it, that is
profligate.
Edinburgh were guilty of this on Saturday. Here are a few
examples –
7 minutes. Glasgow knock on and Edinburgh get the scrum. It
collapses and then after the second attempt Edinburgh hold it in and force a
penalty which Kinghorn duly misses touch from.
12 minutes. Took a scrum options from a penalty when there
were 3 easy points on offer. Glasgow win a free kick.
17 minutes. Penalty given in front of the posts. Scrum
option. Glasgow collapse it and a further penalty is given. Scrum option again.
Further collapse and this time a warning is issued to Glasgow that if there is
a repeat a yellow card will be issued. Scrum option taken, sensibly but then
the ball is moved quickly despite the fact that Glasgow again buckle under the
pressure. If ever there was a time to keep the scrum going this was it.
Especially as Edinburgh make no use of the possession.
All in all there were 13 scrums in the first half with Edinburgh
dominating all of them one way or another. The score however at half time was
0-0 and then only because Glasgow’s Brandon Thomson missed a sitter. I was
happy to see that but still feel for the guy. He must be hurting big time.
Edinburgh had at least 3 occasions to kick a penalty and
with Jaco at the tee these would have been, in all likelihood, straightforward.
I accept that by kicking a penalty the game changes as the
next play then hands possession to the opposition but given the dominance that
Edinburgh had in that first half (60% possession and 67% territory) Glasgow
must have been cock-a-hoop going in to the break level.
I haven’t put a clock on scrum time but even if each of them
took 90 secs to complete that adds up to a mind numbing 27 minutes. Scrums are
important but the more expansive aspects of the game are importanter.
3 carries for Duhan Van Der Merwe! That’s just a waste of
resources.
Anyway that’s the negativity out of the way.
On the plus side Edinburgh’s defence was as good as I’ve
seen it for quite some time. In the
second half Edinburgh had only 18% territory and only conceded in the dying
minutes. In the tackle stakes Edinburgh had 7/10 of the top men with Ben Toolis
and Jamie Hodgson (again) topping the chart with 18 each.
Mark Bennett’s stats were also impressive in defence with 12
tackles making him the only back to score double figures.
WP Nel and Pierre Schoeman’s scrumming is also worthy of
highlight. As a prop I know that the front row is where dominance begins and
ends in the scrum (naturally) and they bossed it. Nel in particular is at the
top of his game in that regard right now and concerns about how we use that
dominance aside, that’s great to see.
It may be half time in this year’s 1872. Who knows? But whatever
it is there is work to do. Finding a way to combat Richie Gray at the lineout
for a start and using our possession a bit better would certainly help.
I’ll take the win though.
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