All Blacks: Guru has faith in bite of the scrum

Neemia Tialata (left), Keven Mealamu, Tony Woodcock and Jerome Kaino put in some work for tomorrow's game at the Cake Tin. Photo / Mark Mitchell

The heat is on the guru as much as his All Black scrum tomorrow.

Mike Cron has been touted as the man who has brought the bite back into the pack during Graham Henry's era, someone who has refined techniques and brought a renewed potency into the All Black eight.

Some of that reputation took a hit from the French last week at Carisbrook but Cron believes his students will bring a born-again controlled venom to their game tomorrow at the Cake Tin.

"We were rusty and a bit unco-ordinated so that is what we have been working on this week," he said.

No extra sessions have been called, but Cron is demanding better output and an emphasis on timing and technique.

"The front row did not gel [in Dunedin] and behind that we were out of timing. It was a bit of a shame there were not more scrums really.

"There were very few so we were a bit underdone," he said.

"But I think a couple of things were coming right towards the end and we have had a bit more time together this week to sort a few things out.

"We hope we have better timing and that we are in much better sync this weekend."

Cron said he raised his eyebrows at some of the test programme statistics which showed the All Blacks with a serious weight advantage at Carisbrook.

In the end those figures meant little as scrums were all about an eight-on-eight contest and sides working as a total unit.

His style was to talk and explain. Yelling and shouting, he felt, was not a constructive scrum coaching method.

"The forwards are the ones out there so my job is to get them ready to play every seven days and be in the best nick they can be, technically, so we just work on those sort of things.

"I don't know how many people respond well to being yelled at. The beauty for us is that we have had another week where we can work together, more sessions where we hope we can get things right."

Cron uses binoculars during matches to get a closer technical view of his charges. He thought they were just out of "nick" at Carisbrook while the French also got freekicked at three early scrums for illegalities and that did not help the All Blacks find their rhythm.

The All Blacks were taller and their emphasis was to get down low and generate the power through their legs, while the Northern Hemisphere sides were more inclined to use the top half of their bodies, he said.

It was a different emphasis, a different style but both had their merits.

"I think it was a bit frustrating all round last week. But the referee did a good job. He was very strict on it and I have no problem with that as long as he stays consistent with whatever he rules.

"I think the ref has to be the boss," Cron said.

This week's official, South African Marius Jonker, had always been fair, he was in charge and that was important.

* Telecom has signed on as a major sponsor of the All Blacks for the next four years, the NZRU said yesterday.