All Blacks forwards coach Jason Ryan has made an immediate impact. Photo / photosport.nz
All Blacks forwards coach Jason Ryan has made an immediate impact. Photo / photosport.nz
Props, world-renowned scrum guru Mike Cron once said to All Blacks forwards coach Jason Ryan, "are all sensitive. They're in a one-on-one confrontational spot where you can get exposed quite brutally if you get it wrong."
It was years ago, Ryan said, "but I've never forgotten it. Setting these boys[in the front row] up to succeed is bloody important, so you've got to look after them."
It may be hard to think of men weighing a lazy 120kg or so as sensitive. But Ryan, who spent more than a decade labouring in the front row for Christchurch's Sydenham club, has the sweaty personal knowledge, and the coaching success with the Crusaders and now the All Blacks, to prove his point.
Take the rise of Tyrel Lomax as a tighthead prop this season.
"I've always been a huge fan of Tyrel," said Ryan. "Right from the 2015 world under-20s tournament in Italy, when he was playing for Australia and Razor [Scott Robertson] and I were coaching the New Zealand team.
"I remember seeing Tyrel there, and going, 'Wow, the sooner he gets to New Zealand the better, because he's an All Black tighthead'.
"We did a little bit to try to get him, and he went to the Highlanders, where he first got going. Then he chipped away at the Canes, where he'll admit himself he's been a little bit of a mixed bag.
"I think he's feeling that the All Black environment we've got now cares about him, and he's also getting coached and challenged in the right way. We take a lot of pride in getting that right. Myself and Feeky [Greg Feek] know how important it is.
"The reality is that if you haven't got a great tighthead, you haven't got a great scrum. They are basically where it starts. It's a key part of your selection in any team. Your starting tighthead, your second tighthead. And then followed by your third."
Lomax, still only 26, played his first test in 2018. "Tyrel's just starting to really show what he's about," Ryan said. "I've always believed it takes four years to develop a front rower. In Tyrel's case it may have taken a little longer, but he's coming."
Loosehead Ethan de Groot is even younger, at 24, and a public bump in his career path came when he was left out of the first All Black squad of the year and told by coach Ian Foster he needed to get fitter.
Those days are now firmly in the rear-view mirror.
"Every great prop has got to have a certain degree of stubbornness about him," said Ryan. "Ethan's a strong personality, and I actually admire that about him. But he is becoming a little more flexible in his thinking.
Ethan de Groot has shone for the All Blacks this season. Photo / photosport.nz
"He thrives in the test arena. I think that he's really suited to that. No disrespect to Super Rugby, but I think he's one of those players with a big frame, that with the scrummaging and power that has to be generated in test rugby, it's probably more suited to him.
"As a specialist loosehead prop his career is trending up. With young props they must learn and understand that scrumming as a front row is about generating the most power together, not working as individuals. Ethan's starting to understand that. His core role is to stay with his hooker. It's not about what he does by himself, because if he does that, he's going to get found out."
Ryan is enthused about the way combinations in the All Blacks front row are developing, and that there's depth and genuine competition.
"The game's changed, and evolved. For the front row, their situation now is almost like the NFL. We only need 40 minutes out of those boys, and then we've got a whole new front row that we can bring on.
"That's been the shift, where we've been challenged around being courageous in our selections, and that comes down to giving Fletcher Newell a crack, getting Tyrel in there.
"We've got a great mix, and whether they're starting or finishing it doesn't really matter. We only need 50 minutes out of them at the most. We don't need 60 or 70 minutes like Tony Woodcock and Owen Franks had to play. Those sort of days are gone.
"There's competition too, which is great. You've got young Fletcher, Nepo [Laulala] is an experienced campaigner, George Bower, Joe Moody's still to come back in, Ofa Tu'ungafasi can go both sides, and the likes of Angus Ta'avao, who's right there. Aidan Ross has been given experience at test level.
"And what's exciting is that when you look at the depth charts in our rugby, at the younger props around, we're in a good spot."
