Front row play

Borrowed from Dan Cottrell email.

5 Secrets of the Front Row

Andrew Millward is a full time professional prop for the Ospreys, the Heineken Cup team providing the bulk of players to the current Welsh squad. Andrew is, moreover, a WRU level 3 coach. He spoke to me last year about some of the current techniques used by front rows at the top of the game.

1. Engage and chase quickly

At the top level scrummaging is an intense business. "Three second scrums" are the aim (apart from for pushover tries), so the ball is in and out quickly. All the effort comes from the engagement and beyond.

Too often, though, sides across the board stop on the engagement. In fact they should be driving forward as soon as the shoulders touch.

At the Ospreys, we concentrate on the speed of our feet movement going forwards, using quick, short steps. Calls certainly help with our timing. We use "hit, 1, 2, 3, 4", and then a quick step "1, 2, 1, 2". My main piece of advice here is sharpen up your calls.

2. Four locks together

Binding by the flankers at scrum time can be very random. On lots of different levels this can disrupt the scrum effort.

If a flanker can give me some support, then I have more weight behind me. From a communication and timing point of view, if everyone is scrummaging together, we will be better off.

We get our flankers to bind onto the locks BEFORE the locks bind onto the props. This avoids flankers binding late as they wait to find out the back row or backs moves. All our calls therefore need to be sorted out in advance of the binding.

3. Second row binding options

A long armed lock can struggle with binding through the legs. When the shove comes on, their arm can slip forwards and their shoulder disengage from the best pushing position on the behind of the prop.

My solution here is to turn their hand around, so the palm faces away from my shorts. This grip is more like an Olympic lift position, with the hand still wrapped in the drawstring area of the shorts.

4. All change for 5 metre scrums

I always like to try something completely different for a 5 metre scrum. I will use a tactic I have yet to use in the game, like changing the angle of my driving. Their prop won't know what to expect and I will hopefully gain the advantage.

With the 5 metre scrum being so crucial and dangerous to the defending side, this difference can cause the sort of disruption which increases pressure on the whole defence. But I save the tactic for when it's needed. If we don't have a 5 metre scrum I might not use the technique during the game.

5. Boss your opponent

What should I do at the first scrum of the game? Wait to find out how the other guy is going to scrummage, or impose my own style on him? These days I don’t wait.

I am lucky enough to have video analysis and so can look at and prepare an action plan for most of the props I might be playing against. Most props don't have these benefits, but they can consider two things come match day.

First, even if they don't know their opposite number's playing style, they can look at their body shape to give them some clues. In the most simple terms, the big guys will use their weight, whilst the smaller props will use technique.

Second, they want to give the other player the problems. And that is "problems" plural, because it's easier to scrummage against a prop who always does the same thing, no matter how good they do it.

So I suggest that your props learn to vary their approach for each scrum.