To say that rugby is purely based on the scrum would be hugely ignorant, but it is a massive part of the game that can decide who wins and loses. The team I play for, Nomads, played their first league game of the season against league newcomers Grasshoppers who were promoted from the league below. Although the 'hoppers had some big men in their forward pack, a feature of the Nomads has been the ability to dominate opposition at scrum time. Over the past two seasons the Nomads have generally enjoyed a solid platform from which to unleash their silky smooth backs. This past Saturday was no different with the Nomads forwards making scrumming look like child's play. Consequently, the backs were running in tries from all angles and with no clean ball to work from, the Grasshoppers were dead in attack.
This near total domination was only the story of the first half, as the 'hoppers (cunningly) had a frontrow injury during half time - yes half time! With no replacement frontrow the scrums became uncontested for the entire second half. While the Nomads still dominated the game in the second half, there was a real difference in the 'hoppers attack as they now had clean ball to work with.
Although this seemingly put a spring into the 'hoppers jump, the Nomads stepped up a gear to make up for the loss of the advantage of their scrum by increasing intensity in other areas of the game.
Everyone that was present on Saturday clearly realised the impact scrums have on the game, so remember to appreciate a scrum everytime you witness one!
P.s. Nomads 62 - Grasshoppers 5...well played boys!
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