ELVs to favour SA scrums
The new law keeping backline defenders five metres beyond the scrum will allow South African franchises significant momentum in the Super 14.
The Stormers played Boland in a warm-up game last Saturday and predictably cruised to a comfortable victory. Of their 12 tries, two were scored from first phase off the scrum with Robbie Diack and Peter Grant utilising the extra space to beat defenders. While defensive lines will be tougher to breach in the Super 14, Stormers assistant coach Gary Gold expects this law to favour a team with a solid scrum.
“I think the Aussie thinking behind this ruling is that it would help them, as it does provide more space,” Gold told keo.co.za. “But teams that can dominate in the scrums will have a big advantage and it will be quite difficult to defend.”
While the Bulls, Cheetahs, Sharks and Lions are all traditionally powerful up front, the Stormers’ scrum is perennially criticised. Despite the 72-10 scoreline in Wellington, the Stormers were asked some serious questions by Andries Human and company. Gold admitted there is still some work to be done up front.
“I think if you had to find a word for our first outing, ’satisfactory’ would be it. We did reasonably well in the set-pieces and did well to disrupt some of their line-outs. There is room for improvement, but we are still a month away from our first match [against the Bulls]. We need to work a bit harder on our mauls and drives, but after our first outing, I’d say we are pretty much where we want to be.”
The Stormers pack will receive a massive boost when prop Brian Mujati and lock Ross Skeate return from injury. Mujati is arguably the most important acquisition made by Erasmus in the off-season. If the tighthead can replicate the form displayed for the Lions in 2007, the Stormers may finally silence their critics at scrum time.
Gold agreed with Erasmus’s post-match statement concerning the breakdown. The Cavaliers provided a good contest at the tackle point but the Stormers loose forwards showed few signs of rust in this area, World Cup-winner Schalk Burger emerging as the stand out.
“We will always look to improve in what is such a fundamental part of the game, but I agree, it did go well at the breakdown. Xolani Mofu put us under a lot of pressure but I thought our guys handled it well,” Gold said.
By Jon Cardinelli
January 22nd, 2008 at 9:55 am
Ag man,
As jy teen die blinde skool speel…dan moet jy goed lyk…so die se nog niks…ons wag tot hulle teen n beter span speel…..dan praat ons weer.
Jy kan regtig nie iets uit n game soos die lees nie.
Jy kan se die nuwe laws gaan help…maar kyk teen wie jy gespeel het…al die groot spanne sal n manier he om die goed te counter…onthou net dit….en dit geld vir al die SA spanne en ja die bulle ook
January 22nd, 2008 at 10:04 am
Do the stormers have a scrum?
January 22nd, 2008 at 10:09 am
#2 LOL
January 22nd, 2008 at 10:12 am
finally an article about the scrum
#2 you are right, I know three women from work who could scrum better then those CT mellowpuffs.
January 22nd, 2008 at 10:13 am
gerber put a sock in it.
You are getting soooo blooming boring now.
January 22nd, 2008 at 10:14 am
g13g, to be fair you work in NZ where most woman are bigger than a brick sh1thouse.
January 22nd, 2008 at 10:20 am
Is that where he is.
Jeez no wonder he’s such a crabby old man.
Moan moan moan all day long.
I would go batty within 50 feet of him.
January 22nd, 2008 at 10:22 am
He and Tackler share an office.
January 22nd, 2008 at 10:27 am
THE office.
January 22nd, 2008 at 10:36 am
guys
what’s the exact ruling of the offside line – does it remain static, ie. 5m from the point the scrum is set, or do they have to fall back should the scrum retreat?
January 22nd, 2008 at 10:41 am
Hackneyed as gr13g may sound, he does kind of have a point. Eddie Andrews is worth at least 12 points in penalties when he is being scrummed.
January 22nd, 2008 at 10:42 am
So, when the entire plot assumes the usual pear-shape as usual for the SA franchises (2007 excepted, thanks only to Henry’s “conditioning”), will it be that same old “travel handicap” excuse?
January 22nd, 2008 at 10:44 am
Tackler, the silver fern is actually the right website for you to post on.
January 22nd, 2008 at 10:44 am
trupisero
I talk under correction, but as far as I know the line has to retreat if the scrum gets pushed back, unless you’re on your own tryline, of course.
January 22nd, 2008 at 10:45 am
tackles, the travel bug was squashed last year! ho ho ho, a merry christmas to you you old grinch!
January 22nd, 2008 at 10:46 am
Tackler… :yawn:
January 22nd, 2008 at 10:47 am
WPTID
thought so, else a powerful scrum would actually result in less space for the attacking side.
tackler, I wish that Arg get inclusion into either S14 or 3N at some point so we can see how well you lot travel for an extended period
January 22nd, 2008 at 10:47 am
lol, tackler, arent you getting tired of the old “conditioning” excuse?
January 22nd, 2008 at 10:48 am
trupisero
The new ELVs are actually quite exciting from a forward’s point of view. It simplifies things immensely.
Under the full new laws being trialled at Vodacom Cup level etc., a forward only needs to remember the following:
1) come in through the gate only (well, this is nothing new)
2) stay on your feet if you are contesting the ball (I think allowing hands in the ruck is awesome, as long as it’s properly enforced and the guys stay on their feet)
3) no rucking unless you want a yellow card
4) any time the opposition have a rolling maul going, try and pull it down
January 22nd, 2008 at 10:50 am
14, 17-which is why there is still a need for big beef like Bakkies, Barend Pieterse, etc. mixed in with faster, mobile guys like Kankowski, Spies etc.. or Bok team might actually have had the mix right without realising it..
January 22nd, 2008 at 10:53 am
guys
what’s the exact ruling of the offside line – does it remain static, ie. 5m from the point the scrum is set, or do they have to fall back should the scrum retreat?
it stands to reason that if the scrum is going backwards the offside line moves backwards…common sence really! otherwise you push a scrum back 5 meters and you would have the defending backline standing amongst attacking backs….
January 22nd, 2008 at 10:55 am
Tackler
Well, it seems like you travelled poorly – straight outta Ruiterwacht…
January 22nd, 2008 at 10:55 am
WPtid, the law actually states that being on your feet means just that, not like Mccaw lying around like a vaalie at the beach sticking his grubby mitts all over the ruck. on your feet should mean just that. not kneeling on your mates etc..
January 22nd, 2008 at 10:56 am
bluebarb
I think you’re quite right – our current Bok squad has a nice mix. Scrums will still be very important under the new rules.
January 22nd, 2008 at 10:57 am
the oz/nz teams hardly won in SA this year, and their record last year wasnt that great either..
January 22nd, 2008 at 10:57 am
Agreed, bluebarb.
It’s actually very, very easy to referee. And the rule also says on your FEET, not FOOT – so none of that kneeling on one knee ****.
I guess it’ll be up to the refs to enforce though.
January 22nd, 2008 at 10:58 am
by this year i mean 2007..
January 22nd, 2008 at 10:59 am
morning BB
January 22nd, 2008 at 11:00 am
the boks scored some great 1st phase tries from rucks in the 3N last year, they have been gearing up for that, and the extra space afforded them will make them more dangerous.
January 22nd, 2008 at 11:00 am
Hey Trupi!
January 22nd, 2008 at 11:01 am
again, by Rucks i mean scrums..
doing three things at once.. not clever.
January 22nd, 2008 at 11:05 am
Bluebarb
Difficult to ref this on you knee on your feet stuff. Standing and playing makes so much sense. Keeps the ball alive and you will have so much more game time per 80 mins. I’m afraid the bigger not so mobile guys will suffer here.
Strong mobile props like BJ and Jannie will be a huge asset. Locks like say Skeate will also become more of value where they were really not suited for the old rules. Pitty Van den berg is at the end of his career. The new laws would suit him greatly!
January 22nd, 2008 at 11:14 am
I have yet to see a South African team “dominate” in the scrums – in the S14 or against the other top 5 international nations. We create this illusion of ourselves that is quite flattering yet misleading. I particularly remember the French pulverising us at home (was it in Durban 2006?). I’ve never seen us go forward like we went backwards that day.
So all this talk of a “strength” that isn’t.
January 22nd, 2008 at 11:23 am
Hope our coaches have really studied these rules, and are not caught out when the S14 starts.
January 22nd, 2008 at 11:24 am
Jissss.. bulls getting nervous I suspect…
If Fester was coach we would probably have won something in the line of 32 – 25….. Then everybody would have said… Ohhh almost lost against Boland….
So Id rather have us thrash them and say: OK so it was only boland… confidence get built… etc etc…
January 22nd, 2008 at 11:38 am
wooden spoon
the bulls pack have a reputation for a reason. Most of their games the opposition forwards started fading in the last quarter. Not so obvious in scrums but in tight loose.
January 22nd, 2008 at 11:41 am
(i posted this yesterday afternoon, but maybe i did so a bit too late to get any comments)
guys
i honestly believe that the new rules will have a huge impact on the game, in fact i believe it will have as big an impact (as the rule change in ‘96 that forced the loosies to stay bound to the scrum. remember the impact kronfeldt had on the game in that time? and this impact wasnt just for a while … think mccaw, burger etc etc etc.
it will be interesting to see from which position the new breed will emerge!! i would love to hear your thoughts on this one.
January 22nd, 2008 at 12:06 pm
Hallo Trup and other boggers
Spoke to a body of mine in Stell. He ref’d the new laws at university past 2 years already.
He reckons the biggest impact will be negative play by kicking a lot.
Apparently the players are scared of loosing the ball in contact and therefor kicked before being trapped in position.
He also said that Andre W last Friday asked them to implement the sevens kick-offs method where the team that scores, kicks off.
January 22nd, 2008 at 12:08 pm
Every saffa team is now jumping on the band wagon about how their team is gonna benefit from the ELV’s.
Should have heard the same people before…bad case of fake oragasmic moans in an orchestra!!!
January 22nd, 2008 at 12:10 pm
38#
body=buddy
January 22nd, 2008 at 12:12 pm
Howzit Walla
Your point is?
January 22nd, 2008 at 12:15 pm
The same people who are shouting from the roof tops that the ELVs are great…2 months ago they were a bad australian idea to suit weak teams.
Maybe true if one considers saffa team to be weak.
January 22nd, 2008 at 12:20 pm
Now jokes aside
Sharks and Stormers are traditionally the teams that travel the best but ………..
Tackler remember the Kiwi teams also have to travel for an extra week or 2 and that has shown how useless they can be at travelling
Blues got klapped by an out of sorts Stormers
The Reds got snotted by 92 points in Steve Hofmeyrs back yard
Blues were beaten 40 points to 19
The Wharatas lost in SA and the beloved Crusaders were lo and behold beaten 3 times in SA-Sharks, Lions and the Bulls sorted them out
Now argue travel
January 22nd, 2008 at 12:27 pm
isigidi @ 38
yeah, i also noticed on saturday that taking contact is a huge risk cause you’re almost sure to lose the ball.
January 22nd, 2008 at 12:34 pm
Hey Wallabie -FOUR MORE YEARS!!!!
January 22nd, 2008 at 12:48 pm
More JL
Bro-in-law has just ordered a DBS in metallic bkack while my sister has to put up with the hand me down … she feels lighted
January 22nd, 2008 at 12:49 pm
JL1,#43.
On behalf of TT, I will just say….. “Reconditioning is off the program for 2008.”
So this year you Okes get the Real Deal Kiwi Teams.(you lucky devils).
You Saffas whining about travel is an insult to your Great Teams of the past who took 4 weeks to get here by ship, travelled around NZ by Coastal Shipping/Ferries or Trains and still managed to make themselves the most respected Teams to Tour here.
Last time I checked the distance between Bloemfontein and Wellington (NZ or SA)was exactly the same in reverse.
The longer you are away, the more you should have acclimatised to the time zones and recovered from jet lag.
January 22nd, 2008 at 12:50 pm
oops a typo … she feels “slighted” !
January 22nd, 2008 at 12:54 pm
RP,
Hi Babe.
January 22nd, 2008 at 12:57 pm
Hey Cane
Was reading about Ed’s funeral today – very sad, but what a nice tribute to him.
Getting ready for S14 & 3N ?