When you pack down for a scrum, taking your bind on your team-mate’s shirt, lowering yourself down to begin preparations to put your body into one of the darkest, most uncomfortable places in professional sport, you need two things, apart from technical skill: belief and desire.
Italy had that in spades as they dominated Scotland up front in their 18-15 victory in Rome last weekend — and by doing so they provided England with the blueprint to follow at Murrayfield on Saturday.
Let me share the secrets of how the Italians went about their dismantling job.
Italy have had the personnel to build a dominant scrum for a few seasons, but only recently have they truly believed that it can be a weapon.
On their put-in, this belief has enabled them to start keeping the ball at the No8’s feet, bracing for an extra few seconds to see if the opposition will crumble. On opposition ball, they are becoming an increasingly destructive force, as seen in their first huge scrum just before half-time last Saturday.
My main fear for Scotland before the Six Nations was that they would fall back on using the scrum only as a platform to play away from quickly, to feed their deadly back line. This mindset can lead to a passive scrum, which can quickly turn into a weak one.
Italy preyed on this mindset to perfection, 36 minutes in. Scotland have a scrum in their own half, and as Ben White prepares to put the ball in, it looks nothing special. Italy’s hit is relatively neutral, they do not chase their feet, and Scotland hold them steady. That is the calm before the storm.
Italy were luring Scotland into a false sense of security. From playing tight-head for years, I know the feeling. Despite the spinal compression on the hit, you feel relatively comfortable. You don’t feel like your opposition prop is attacking particularly hard and it might cross your mind that, with five minutes until half-time, they will be looking to just hit and hold. And then you hear the noise.
For Italy, below, it starts with their No7 Manuel Zuliani, wearing the white scrum cap. The call for this eight-man shove is “Italia!”. At the top of his lungs, Zuliani screams “IIII!” as White prepares to feed in the ball; that is the signal to brace, and then strike. On the “TAAA!” of “Italia”, the Azzurri attack together, perfectly timed, as they shove forwards shouting “LIIAA!”.
The surge starts from Italy’s locks, Andrea Zambonin and Niccolò Cannone. They drop their height slightly, squeeze their hips down, push them towards the earth, chase their feet, and then propel their perfectly aligned tight-head, Simone Ferrari, through the Scotland pack like a hot knife through butter. For props like me, it is a thing of beauty.
After a scrum like that, Ferrari and his pack will have cruised into the dressing room to plot their next attack. The last scrum before half-time can often be the most important of the match. Win it, like Italy did, and your opposition have to stew for 15 minutes on how they were disintegrated.
Scotland would have thought, ‘How do we possibly recover from that?’ You try to focus on the next job, but deep down you can’t hide the feeling of humiliation having been marched back.
Your animal instincts are terrified it will happen again.
Ferrari’s horsepower
And it did. Scotland went 18-10 down to a Paolo Garbisi penalty 50 minutes in, and then Finn Russell kicked the following restart out on the full. Italy could barely suppress their excitement at the prospect of another scrum, and marched to the halfway line. What then follows is a beautiful technical display from Italy’s tight-head, Ferrari.
Scotland, fearing another humiliation, are now scrambling around for answers, trying to change the picture to the referee, Ben O’Keeffe.
O’Keeffe stands on Ferrari and Pierre Schoeman’s side of the scrum. To try to show dominance, Schoeman steps to his left slightly, swinging his hips out to attack around the outside of the Italy scrum. It is a classic move, often described as “walking around” by the referee, and as a tight-head it can be very hard to counter.
Ferrari reacts perfectly. The second he feels Schoeman step outside him, he releases his right-hand bind on the Scottish loose-head, while staying square and still attacking straight.
He then swings his arm up and under Schoeman’s chest. Schoeman then has nothing keeping him down so stands up, leaving a huge gap between the loose-head and his hooker.
This gap leaves an open door for the Italian to drive through and paints an obvious picture to the referee that the loose-head is not square and is pushing on an angle. It was expertly executed, as you can see on the slow-motion replay.
Low n’ slow: how to barbecue the opposition pack
What I loved about the Italy performance was that they showed they are not just a one-trick pony. They dominated on their own ball, on opposition ball and, crucially, after they made substitutions as well.
The scrum on 76 minutes completed Italy’s trifecta of scrum dominance. It reminded us props of our favourite barbecuing method: low n’ slow.
It is Italy’s put-in, and with the ball hooked to the back of the scrum, the whole Italy pack drops their height and goes to work, patiently waiting for a small gap to appear. Then, once it does, and the pack is suitably basted and up to temperature, they pile through winning another penalty.
This performance can inspire Italy for the rest of the tournament. Belief is contagious, and now it is established in their scrum, they will have another huge opportunity to demonstrate it against Ireland in Dublin.
English lessons
After analysing this footage, the England scrum coach, Tom Harrison, and his props will be fully expecting to put in another dominant performance this weekend against the Scottish pack.
The tight-head, Joe Heyes, scrummaged nice and square against Wales, taking the loose-head on by driving straight, not turning in to try to attack the hooker.
The in-form Heyes will be a worrying sight for the Scotland pack
DAN MULLAN – RFU/THE RFU COLLECTION VIA GETTY IMAGES
This, combined with a strong right-arm bind to give the loose-head nowhere to go, and the aggression once the ball arrives, led by Ellis Genge — like Italy’s “Italia!” call — will make it very tricky for the Scottish pack to get dominance.
Schoeman has been dropped after the Italy game, so it will be interesting to see if his replacement, Nathan McBeth, will try to drop his height even lower to nullify this English power.
This can be risky, as loose-heads often compromise their shape by doing this, thinking the ground can save them.
If a loose-head’s head drops below his hips he loses a lot of power, and Heyes has proved very effective at pinning loose-heads in that position.
Genge, right, has plenty of aggression and was a handful for Wales last weekend
JAVIER GARCIA/SHUTTERSTOCK
I am particularly excited to see England empty the bench. Trevor Davison and Bevan Rodd have both been in excellent form at club level for Northampton Saints and Sale Sharks respectively.
It is now about their partnerships once they come on, and ensuring they get enough repetitions together with Jamie George at hooker to have 100 per cent trust in one another.
The England scrum can be their key weapon in silencing the Scottish crowd at Murrayfield. I expect the first scrum of the game to be huge, with England quickly trying to establish themselves as the dominant force in the eyes of referee, Nika Amashukeli. Scotland will be desperate to put the Italy game behind them and settle their nerves.
It is the biggest test of their props, and pack as a whole, to react having had their pride dented.
The importance of scrums…
They have quality props, especially with the experience of their tight-head Zander Fagerson, who is a British & Irish Lion, but now need to evolve from only providing a platform for Russell and his backs into a force that wants to test you on every scrum.
A huge reaction is needed from them this week. And if they do not fix things quickly, another onslaught could well be heading their way.
Scotland v England
Murrayfield
Saturday, 4.40pm
TV ITV
The Ruck Podcast: LiveDon’t miss tough tacklers Courtney Lawes and Serge Betsen on March 9 as they compare notes on France v England and the biggest moments of this year’s Six Nations at Twickenham Stoop. Book tickets here