New Zealand sick of being the fall guy

[travelling_gerry]

New Zealand sick of being the fall guy

• From: The Australian
• November 29, 2010 12:00AM

IT'S not just the Wallabies who are enduring scrummaging headaches.

The All Blacks have threatened to implement "golden oldies" scrums next season as tension continues to build over their set-piece platform.
New Zealand assistant coach Steve Hansen revealed that depowering the set was a consideration in the aftermath of the grand slam-sealing victory over Wales on Saturday -- a success sullied by another scrummaging performance that attracted the harsh scrutiny of a northern hemisphere referee.
Ireland's Alan Lewis regularly found fault with the New Zealand eight on the Welsh feed, a contributing factor to the All Blacks being caned 17-8 in the penalty count during their 37-25 triumph. Since embarking on their tour of Britain and Ireland, the All Blacks have been concerned about how they are officiated when exerting pressure on the opposing pack.


Those frustrations boiled over at Millennium Stadium when an exasperated Hansen said the All Blacks might refuse to shove in future when the opposition halfback crouched to deliver the ball.
Hansen and coach Graham Henry were so perplexed by Romain Poite's officiating at Twickenham and Dave Pearson's rulings in Scotland a week later that they indicated the International Rugby Board's referees chief Paddy O'Brien would be contacted for clarification.
Those discussions never eventuated. Instead Hansen offered his own solution when asked how the All Blacks could minimise penalties at the set piece.
"The answer is don't put pressure on, just let them win their ball," he said.
"We can stop trying to put pressure on the opposition scrum so they stay up. We want to put pressure on them but if they fall over all the time, we're getting penalised.
"We've tried talking to the referees but we're not making any headway. We're going to have to use the summer months to . . . come up with a solution.
"You can laugh at me when I say we'll stop doing it (pushing) but we could be better off."
Hooker Keven Mealamu argued they could not maintain their footing on the unstable surface.
NZPA


http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news...-1225962399777

[Burgs]

Surely it is only Australia that gets penalised at scrumtime???

[GIGS20]

Looking at that article, it appears that the scrum collapses when the nh teams get a push they can't handle. I knew the Aussie pack were too powerful for their own good


(load of shit)