By Ajack
February 7 2003

With doubts raised recently over the Saints prowess at the set piece Ajack brings you his guide to the scrum. A former second rower himself and the scourge of Bucks n Oxon locks in the last century the 'wise one' gives you his theory on how it should be done.

Okay the basics of scrummaging as understood by yours truly.

Tighthead: - Should be square to the scrum, with feet approximately a shoulders width apart the inside leg should be straight or slightly bend, with as much of the foot in contact with the ground as possible. The whole body should be in line with the direction of push, shoulders hips and feet. The binding around the hooker should be on or just above the shorts and remain tight, as this gives the hooker freedom to strike. Back should be straight and head looking as far forward as possible, thus minimising the possibility of his opposite number getting underneath him.

Hooker: - The hooker usually binds high on both props and should be tight enough that the props can support him. His shoulders should be level with those of the props but with his right shoulder ahead of the left, thus allowing him the movement to strike for the ball and also freeing up the area just under the props bum for the second row to push on you do not want the drive going through onto the hooker as it makes hooking near impossible. The feet and hips should always be pointing slightly towards the left, so as to allow the actual hooking of the ball, with as much of the left foot in contact with the ground as possible. This set up is different if you are going for an eight-man shove on their ball.

Loosehead: - The shoulders should be square to the shove and the binding will be above that of the tighthead (on the shirt) as he does not want to pull the hooker square making it harder for him to strike. The loosehead normally dictates the height of the scrum so as to favour his hooker; some will want it higher than others. His left foot will be ahead of his right and that should be behind that of the hooker (something I believe we struggle with) so as to create a clear channel for the ball, much slow ball is a result of the channel not being hit or wide enough. Both feet and hips should be square to the shove and he should lead with the right shoulder so as to protect the hooker.

Locks: - The locks usually get in a squat position with the binding being through the legs of the props and will usually reach as far round as possible to grab the waist band of the props shorts with the outside arm, this encourages a sort of "arm wrestle" pulling the prop tight onto the outside shoulder and allowing as little movement as possible whilst still leaving the hooker free to strike, Feet should be shoulder width apart and pointing forward for a more dynamic drive but may spread to lock out. When the hit is over there should be a small amount of bend still in the knees. The lower down to two locks bind to each other (shorts) the stronger the bind but this does prevent freedom should you wish to wheel (not that we would do such a thing) so sometimes they will bind higher (shirt). The stronger lock will usually be on the right as this is where more pressure comes through. Again backs should be straight and the head looking as far forward as possible.

Flankers: - In an ideal world they should drive slightly inwards but almost straight so giving as much forward drive as possible, however if the prop is struggling they will come in at more of an angle, this also helps protect the scrum half. However freedom to break is paramount in order to break to counter or support a number eight pick up or get across the pitch quickly.

No 8: - He will either bind between the two second rows for a more stable scrum and greater control, or between the left flanker and left lock for a quick strike and pick up. The former is the most common and he will bind on the locks shorts with feel back (less so than the locks) and the weight slightly favouring the left side so as to control the ball with his right foot as far away as possible from the opposition scrum half.

The entire strength of the scrum relies on it remaining tight and as a unit and timing is crucial any fault is like the weakest link in a chain the rest becomes useless.
So there you have it the scrummage according to Ajack, I am sure some of you will be able to put me right on a few points, however now have a look at the picture kindly provided by Chris Hoddle and it is not hard to see why we are struggling, or is it?

Your views?