Standing behind a dominant scrum or lineout is every backline player’s fantasy. There is nothing like quality front-foot ball to make guys in Nos 10 to 15 salivate.
However, sometimes those backs don’t see as much of the ball because the forwards tend to be greedy. The big boys don’t want to share the “pill”, because they are enjoying the rush of going forward too much.
This was certainly the case last weekend where the Stormers’ forwards perhaps attempted one lineout drive too many against the 14-man Blues.
The Cape franchise just couldn’t get that momentum to get over the tryline, as the Blues did well to counter their maul. And once Craig Joubert shouted “use it now”, the backs couldn’t get any go-forward because the New Zealand’s side’s rush defence was too much for them to deal with.
It was all just a tad predictable, as the Blues also stood off the Stormers’ drive a couple of times, before coming around and tackling the unsuspecting ball-carrier at the back.
The Stormers pack delivered a masterclass in their first match of the season against the Bulls, when they de-horned the Pretoria side’s forwards in the scrum. Against the Blues, they didn’t quite have their own way, especially in the lineouts and at ruck time, but they did enough to the provide the team with more than enough possession.
On Saturday against the Lions at Ellis Park, backs coach Robbie Fleck wants the team to vary their attack more, especially from set-pieces.
“It’s always good to have a strong set-piece to launch those attacks. Against the Bulls our set-piece operated well and we were able to get some continuity and launch a few attacks,” the former Springbok centre said.
“Last weekend was a bit different. Our lineout didn’t operate as it normally does and we mauled a helluva lot, thinking there was an opportunity when they went a player down. But we could have probably varied our attack a bit more from the lineout.”
The Stormers’ scrum has been outstanding, and they actually have some depth in the front row these days with Springbok Frans Malherbe yet to feature after recovering from injury. However, he could be considered for the trip to Ellis Park.
Strangely, though, the Stormers didn’t get a lot of attacking scrums to work from against the Blues. But up at the Highveld, the scrum could be a potent weapon to attack from if they manage to dominate a Lions pack that actually like to mix it up in the scrums as well.
“The scrums were a strange affair, because we only had two scrums for ourselves, and those were defensive scrums. It was pretty strange to have no attacking scrums in the opposition half,” Fleck said.
“It’s fantastic to see a Stormers scrum going forward. It was a real focus of ours in the pre-season, because we wanted to make it an important part of our game. But we come in against a very strong pack that likes to scrum, and it will be a good test for Matt (Proudfoot) and the guys.” - Cape Times