One minute and seven seconds, a gut check for the Ireland scrum. Well, more technique. Andrew Porter forced the error. A first scrum, in a set piece that’s proved troublesome. Perception is the law.
No Tadhg Furlong, Ireland’s first choice tighthead prop but Finlay Bealham wasn’t for turning; held firm with authority. Eventually. It took two minutes and 33 seconds to complete the scrum, the tedium sucking the atmosphere from the stadium. It was to prove a portent of things to come.
The scrum has been a bugbear in times past rightly or wrongly. Ireland had a 91.5 per cent success rate in 2024 before Friday night’s match, having won 34 and lost four of 38 scrums, forcing opponents to concede six penalties and six free kicks. By way of a direct comparison, New Zealand have won 60 of 63 and squeezed their opponents for 12 penalties.
On paper the figures appear reasonable but on the pitch those statistics are somewhat at odds with the in-game narrative. In the World Cup quarter-final last year, New Zealand won three scrum penalties from five feeds, albeit that Ireland, with some justification, would argue they were sinned against and not sinners. Andy Farrell’s side didn’t have a single put-in on that Parisian night.
Ireland endured scrum travails during the drawn summer series in South Africa. Fighting manfully to limit the damage to a couple of transgressions in the first Test, the Springboks ramped up the power for the second stanza in Durban, the ‘Bomb squad’ leaving a mark. Ireland lost two of seven scrums according to the official statistics; the bottom line though was even more debilitating.
South Africa eviscerated the Irish scrum, the upshot a penalty try and a harsh yellow card for Rónan Kelleher. Springbok loosehead Ox Nche was man-of-the-match, a reflection of that set piece dominance. Despite the handicap, Ireland won.
The new laws to be trialled in the Autumn Nations Series included one that directs a scrum to be set within 30 seconds of the packs forming.
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There were seven in the first half and using a different metric, the time elapsed from whistle to whistle or referee Nic Berry shouting play was two minutes and 33 seconds, 50 seconds, one minute and two seconds, one minute and 25 seconds, one minute and 37 seconds, one minute and 19 seconds and one minute and 11 seconds.
Each side was awarded a free-kick, otherwise there was no real advantage gleaned but it introduced a torpor that ripped any momentum from the contest.
And then 44 seconds after the restart it was a scrum that provided the perfect launch for an Ireland try. With Jordie Barrett in the bin for a high shot on Garry Ringrose, Ireland looked initially to have lost an opportunity when the ball was ripped away in a maul five metres from the New Zealand line but a superb double tackle by Bundee Aki and James Lowe on Sam Cane earned the home side a scrum.
The pack gave Caelan Doris the perfect launch and the Irish captain thundered into multiple tacklers. Several phases later Josh van der Flier snuck beneath the New Zealand goal-line defence. The scrums continued to take an age but from an Irish perspective those winning were grinning.
On 57 minutes Andy Farrell went to the bench, four replacements, including frontrow forwards Rob Herring and Tom O’Toole, their first action a scrum. The Rock of Cashel would have been easier to shift. It was a seminal moment, passed with flying colours.
Unfortunately, O’Toole barely had time to register any satisfaction before copping a blow to the head. Bealham returned just two minutes and 30 seconds after he’d sat down. A scrum. New Zealand had summoned two new props Ofa Tu’ungafasi and Tyrel Lomax.
Ireland got the shove on, but assistant referee Andrea Piardi adjudicated that Bealham had “stepped out and driven across”, and that message was delivered to Berry and then relayed to an incredulous Ireland. It looked like a legitimate call.
The first penalty at a scrum in the match and the conduit for New Zealand to regain the lead through a Damian McKenzie penalty. It rankled because Ireland’s work in that facet had been excellent. Its set piece sibling, the lineout, erratic but the real culprits, indiscipline and being outplayed at the breakdown.
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