Seeing the display put in by Leinster's scrum on Saturday and comparing it with Ireland's diffficulties against England, we were in trouble before Court replaced Ross leading to capitulation although Ross was carrying a dead shoulder around with him, I was wondering if the locks had anything to do with it.
I will admit to understanding less than maybe I should about scrums but Ross's comment about Brad Thorn, ("When he's behind, you know all about it. He compresses your spine in new and interesting ways.") lead me to ponder.
Could it be that, for all his fine work elsewhere, Donnacha Ryan isn't that great a scrummager? How much do the 2nd row really contribute to the scrum? Does playing at 5 for Ireland rather than at 4 for Munster make a difference?
Front 5
posted on 13/4/12
No mate, it was worse than that for Ross, on the first scrum Against England he sustained a compressed vertebrae, and on a wet day we were doomed from that moment on. A common injury for props to pick up actually and normally not serious. Thorn is is well known as a serious lump in the engine room and pushes i guess harder than others but that does not always help the prop, and can actually destabilize the front row.
Its credit to Ross or folly by Declan Kidney that he was left to continue for 25-30 mins after that. And indeed Leinster were lucky have him back for the HC.
Anyway lets be quite logical about this. The plain truth is that last year in the HC Leinster had a great scrum, as did ireland in last years 6 nations, and indeed in the world cup. In fact Ross has has no problems as a prop until that day we played England. Logic is easy enough to read. He got injured and without a real tight-head to replace him on the bench DK didn't take him off for a long time, and when he did, court was even worse then a playing injured Ross, Proving that court is not nor never has been a tight head and also is just a passable loosehead. But also showing that DK for all his player welfare BS left Ross on injured, in a scrum being smashed, and could well have seriously injured Ross. Food for thought...
posted on 16/4/12
Boks were always better at scrum time with Bakkis Botha on the field!
posted on 16/7/18
Applying EU tariffs to products destined for the EU is part of Mrs May's plan to avoid friction at borders after Brexit.