Richard Loe: Lack of technique, referees make a mess at scrum time

Scrums, or should I say the lack of quality scrummaging, has become a hot issue in the Air New Zealand Cup.

But before you even begin to look at the technical aspects of why some teams are really struggling at the set piece, you cannot look past the fact that if you take your top half-a-dozen front-rowers out of any competition then you are clearly diluting the strength.

The All Blacks have received a lot of praise for their work at scrum time in the past two years, but that does not necessarily trickle down to the lower levels.

The refereeing of scrums hasn't helped. A couple of years ago referees came out and said they were going to allow the scrums to become a bit more of a contest, and scrummaging improved a hell of a lot.

Now they have gone back to the way they used to ref, when, if it goes down they blow their whistle and reset the scrum. If the ball is already at the back of the scrum there's no need to blow it up.

But a lot of that comes down to experience as well. To be able to hold up the opposition scrum when you have got them under pressure and then turn the screws on them takes real skill. Younger props tend to dive for cover or come up higher if they are struggling.

Scrummaging has also become too reliant on power rather than technique because of the contrived nature of the contest. In the old days you would try to get there early, bind up and get a hit on them before they knew what was happening.

Now you have got this crouch, hold, and engage on the referees whim ("is everyone ok? Yes, have your finished your morning tea? Lovely, hit in"). It is so contrived and reliant on pure power.

I recently watched Manawatu playing Hawke's Bay and, yes, the scrums were a bit of a farce. Manawatu had Tama Tuirirangi propping. He hadn't played for a fair while and was never any great shakes as a scrummager but, in saying that, Hawke's Bay didn't have their way totally with him.

It just led to a very messy spectacle at scrum time but you're going to get games like that from time to time.

But on Thursday night during the Southland-Taranaki game, especially with Clarke Dermody in the front row for Southland and Andrew Hore at hooker for Taranaki, it was a much improved standard.

Jamie Mackintosh packed down for Southland and he's a boy with a big future in the game. I met Jamie a couple of years ago and was with Colin Meads at the time. Meads said "he's a big bugger, we'll have to look after him". He'd be damn near taller than Carl Hayman so he's up there. As he matures he'll grow into a really big man and if he can maintain his technique and mobility around the field he'll go a long way.

The Friday night games demonstrated what a potent weapon a good front row can be. The Bay of Plenty front row all have Super 14 experience and it showed against Hawke's Bay. They dictated terms and that set the platform.

Then with the Counties-Manakau versus Manawatu game you had a contrast. While Counties' props are all mobile and skilful ball-handlers, their technique let them down at scrum time.

That allowed Manawatu, who haven't a great scrum by any means, to stay in a game they should really have lost by plenty.