I always have a particular match, trend, team, or player in mind to focus on heading into each round of the NRL season. This week, I’m nerding out over scrums.
Long-time readers know that I love a try from a scrum.
Depending on where they occur on the field, scrums are an ideal platform to attack from. There are the cat and mouse games with the defence; do they follow the attack with the same split, or trust the 3/3 split from the middle to do the job?
Further down the field, teams can script a set, whether to simply complete it or play to a point to fire a shot.
I’ve watched every scrum from the last round of the NRL and picked out a few I liked and a couple of setups I’m keeping an eye on moving forward.
A base to attack from
The Canberra Raiders and Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles gave us a couple of interesting looks in Round 9.
I’ve left the vision out so as not to clog things up, but at one point, Ethan Strange fed the ball into the scrum and ran straight back ten metres. I’ll be keeping an eye out for whatever that was moving forward and come back to it.
Later we can see a good example of how teams try different things in attack and defence.
The Raiders have lined two up behind the scrum. In response, Tom Trbojevic is floating behind in defence trying to mirror the Raiders. They’ve used the other five players in a 2/3 split. It’s important to note that the two in defence come on the side of the scrum where the ball is being fed.
With the uncertainty around numbers and Trbojevic not in the line, the key defensively is for the scrum to break quickly and close the space between the base and Luke Brooks.
The two Raiders behind the scrum sweep late. The intention appears to be that the first gets to Brooks and uses the Matt Timoko lead to turn the second defender in, leaving a two-v-one situation out wide.
The Sea Eagles defence does a good job, though. They break quickly and make a move straight towards the ball player.
The Gold Coast Titans tried similar but the Melbourne Storm shut it down with ease. Melbourne didn’t try to mirror the Gold Coast’s numbers. Instead, they presented the 3/3 split in defence and trusted the break from the scrum to make up the numbers.
Ryan Papenhuyzen’s speed is going to win that battle more often than not. However, Shawn Blore isn’t the quickest across the ground in defence. I’d like to see somebody shape up as the Titans have done here, but for the fullback to fold back inside to attack any space left by a lazy defence.
The Storm later showed us how it’s done.
Again we’ve got a 3/3 defensive split despite the attack showing their number early.
Papenhuyzen is yelling something at the back of the scrum in the broadcast. It looks as though he’s yelling “flat.”
That flat pass is the key, regardless of what Papenhuyzen is yelling. It takes time away from the defenders breaking from the scrum and allows Cameron Munster to get straight at Kieran Foran. Brian Kelly is on his bike backwards trying to buy time while Jojo Fifita jams from the wing.
Papenhuyzen’s quick hands feed Will Warbrick on the wing as the Storm make it look easy.
Sometimes, it’s as simple as giving it to the fast kid.
Getting a set started
Scrums aren’t all about highlight reel attacking plays. If we get deep into the weeds of Nerdom, we see some small benefits of starting a yardage set with a scrum.
Here, the Brisbane Broncos move away from the typical one-out carry from an outside back and move the ball wider to generate ruck speed. Instead of having a winger cart the ball up at two of the better defenders in the opposition while more break hard from the scrum, the Broncos run a simple block play for Pat Carrigan to get at Luke Keary and start their set on the front foot.
The Penrith Panthers have the outside backs to start a set well one-off the scrum. However, they’re looking for opportinities on the back of it.
Brian To’o completes his typically strong carry off the scrum in this one. He generates decent speed while challenging the defence to travel to the short side. At the slightest sign of laziness or sleepiness, the Panthers are ready to strike.
Cody Walker defends scrums on the wing and doesn’t move up with those inside him on this occassion. Taylan May is then able to skip outside the B defender to put Jarome Luai down the sideline.
It’s not going to make the post-game NRL highlights, but the Panthers have traveled 25 metres in two carries to win back momentum.
NRL Scrum Watch
With all of that in mind for Round 10 of the NRL season, keep an eye on both sides of the scrum all the way up the field.
Are defensive teams mirroring the numbers in front of them?
Does the attacking team flip a player late?
Is it a set play designed for points or a scripted set from a scrum start.
We will no doubt have a few more to dig into for the Round 10 Review next week.