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Mar 24

How do we turn a problem into a prop?

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The Irish Times - Saturday, March 24, 2012

Following the scrum debacle at Twickenham, former Ireland and Leinster tighthead prop EMMETT BYRNEattempts to demystify the dark arts of the front row, explaining the roles of the loosehead and tighthead props, the mechanics of the scrum and looks at what Ireland could have done to survive in London

THE ROLE OF THE TIGHTHEAD PROP

IN BROAD terms, he must lock the scrum and represents the most important player because his position is the most vulnerable point in a scrum in terms of weight and leverage and therefore represents the weakest point where the opposition attack. On his feed he tries to stabilise the scrum and on opposition ball he works in conjunction with the rest of the pack to try and fracture the opposing scrum.

He wont lead the attack; the loosehead will start it and hell follow. The natural weight of the scrum is on the looseheads side. At tighthead youre playing against two players, the loosehead and the hooker. You have to deal with two people and more often than not they are underneath you which hands them a biomechanical advantage.

The revised scrum laws demand of a prop that his shoulders must be in line with, if not above, his hips. In the old days a tighthead was able to lower the height of the scrum by any means possible and this included dipping the shoulders well below hip height. The laws now facilitate the loosehead to get under the tighthead.

The looseheads head, neck and shoulder are under his chest. Thats difficult to defend against. The tighthead needs to understand the change of angles required to minimise the surface area the loosehead can work with. Obvious physics suggest that if he can get right in under his chest, he is going to do more damage than if you just give him a small area under your right shoulder.

By changing angles and distribution of weight you can actually minimise the surface area that you present to a loosehead. The other important job a tighthead must do is lower the height of the scrum. People are obsessed with pre-engagement height but it is not as important as post-engagement height. Pre-engagement optimal height is proportional to force production, trying to get too low will reduce this. You must also be relaxed so as not to engage antagonistic muscle groups which will slow you down. On engagement you exert maximal force, lower the height and are rigid like a statue while taking short steps maintaining optimal force. On the feed of the ball another shift in angle counters the opposition snap drive, this, however, requires accurate timing. There is more than one way to scrum as a tighthead and the best in the business can problem solve from one scrum to the next.

WHAT HAPPENS IN THE FRONTROW AFTER THE SCRUM ENGAGES

The loosehead cannot push forward unless he lifts first; this destabilises the tighthead. The latter must apply downward pressure. If the tighthead only applies forward pressure hes going to be forced to stand up. He must apply forward and downward pressure simultaneously. This is where the new training regimes of the last seven of eight years in terms of props have changed, with great core strength a priority.

Continued here:
How do we turn a problem into a prop?

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