Following last weekend's win over Romania, there was a rather startling and surprising quote from USA head coach Mike Tolkin regarding his side's ongoing struggles in the scrums.
The Eagles coach was quoted as saying "we really only had one session with this group in the scrums, and with a little more time we will be better".
Whilst the 'we will be better with a little more time' remark remains to be seen, it seems astonishing that a team and a group that has been pummelled and destroyed by virtually every opponent in recent times 'only had one session' at the scrums.
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| Former Ireland prop Justin Fitzpatrick is amongst the USA coaching staff |
It would be interesting to know the reasoning behind that. Did the coaching staff just see it as a lower priority? Was there really only time for just one session? Aside from Eric Fry who has gone back to his club Newcastle, Tolkin and his assistants which includes former Ireland prop Justin Fitzpatrick have had just under 2 weeks with the side now since before the All Blacks test. To have done just one scrum session in that time seems rather surprising, especially considering it's one of USA's major weaknesses and they were heading into a match against a team who's prime weapon is that area of the game, you'd have thought this would have been a week where scrum sessions would have been one of the top priorities.
As a contrast to that Japan coach Eddie Jones, who made fixing the scrum his prime concern after watching it getting destroyed 2 years ago against the Romanians, was recently heard talking enthusiastically as ever about how 'intense', 'full on' and 'crazy' his side's scrummaging sessions were and claiming they weren't matched often by their competitors.
Video: Eddie Jones on Japan's 'intense' scrum sessions
Whilst there are obviously differing circumstances between the two with Japan able to spend more time together. Nobody can realistically expect the North Americans to improve on quite such a dramatic scale as Japan have (they as an aside have spent the last two weekends pushing the Maori All Blacks about for penalty tries), but nevertheless there is a considerable gulf between how either side's coaches are talking about the issue. If you're only doing one scrummaging session in over a week, then it's little wonder the scrum continues to suffer quite as badly as it is doing.
Video: Uruguay amongst others have left the American scrum red faced this year
seems like theyve been up against some top scrummaging teams, shame they have had no time to work on the component in the lead up, so they could get a really good gauge but nothing from him will startle me after what he said following the AB game, about it only being a few years before they are competing with the top sides. lets hope hes just really brilliant and not really stupid.
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