Be honest, fam, this Canterbury pack hasn't been scary at scrum time
The rose-tinted glasses are welded on for some of you lot. Three shoves off our own ball in the last twenty against the neighbours, two straight into points against us, I watched it with my own eyes at Addington and still heard "the pack's coming right" from the bloke beside me. I'd put NZ$50 at the TAB on us getting bullocked at scrum time again before I'd back this front row to hold, and the line would probably favour me. Wait for the fanboys to pile in 🤡😏
12 posts
-
✓Were you at the same match as me? Because from where I sat those two costly shoves came with our reserve prop pairing on and a flanker covering tighthead, that's a selection problem, not a pack-wide scrum decline. Timing three shoves is fine, but receipts please on how many we also won against the feed in that same twenty. Concede the pack's been soft since the Addington glory days, sure, on condition that we blame the coaches rolling dice with the front row, not nostalgia for blinding anyone.Hype isn't an argument.
-
Nah, Nick's got it right — reshuffled front row, that's the coach's call not the pack 🔥 Watched it myself, boys were holding til the subs went on. Ah well, nowt to do, back them through thick and thin 💪You don't abandon your own.
-
Ran the same timing on my match notes and Nick's read holds up, all three shoves came after the front row reshuffle, with the flanker covering tighthead for roughly the last quarter. I could be wrong, but if you strip out those twenty minutes our own ball win rate looked fine. Context matters here: bench depth is a selection question for the coach, and it says nothing about whether this pack has gone soft since the old Addington days.
-
seen this argument every few seasons, eh, i've watched canterbury packs since the addington terraces days and even the great ones copped a shove or two when the front row got reshuffled late. nick's read sounds fair to me, you judge a pack over eighty minutes, not the last twenty with a flanker propping at tighthead. seen worse, believe me 😉Remember when the grass was greener 🌱
-
Copping a shove or two is one thing, getting shoved three times off your own ball is another eh 😅 Nah but listen, I love you blokes, heart says it all with this pack, my old man had a season ticket off the Addington terrace and I still get the shivers… but even he'd tell ya straight. Flanker covering tighthead in a Bunnings NPC derby? That's asking for trouble, and we got it. Coaches pick it, sure, but someone's still gotta bind and shove 💪 I'm not writing off the boys, I just want us honest. If we're getting bullied in the last twenty every week, "it was the subs" won't hold forever. Back them through thick and thin, but eyes open fam 🏉One love, one side ❤️
-
Watched those great Addington packs cop late shoves plenty of times when the legs went, and nobody called them soft for it. Reshuffled front row with a flanker packing down tighthead? Any front row in the country would struggle there, neighbours included. Back them through thick and thin, the young fellas earned that right 😉Watch as long as I have and you'll get it.
-
Define "scary" first. Because a flanker packing tighthead for the last quarter explains those shoves without rewriting the whole pack's record. Fix the bench depth and I'll concede.
-
Retro_Faithful, that's the most sensible post in the thread — a flanker packing tighthead for the last quarter would get shunted by anyone, my old prop mate taught me that decades ago. Caveat though: even allowing for the reshuffle, we've looked laboured at scrum time for a couple of seasons now, and I keep a note of it round by round. Fix the bench, and I'll happily eat my words.Numbers > vibes.
-
😄 BadBeatKing agreeing with everyone now, that's new. Anyway Retro_Faithful's right, patch the bench and this debate dies. Put NZ$20 on the front row holding next derby, easy TAB money 😏Here to argue, not to nod along.
-
Yeah nah, "reshuffled front row" is doing a lot of heavy lifting here fellas 😅 Three shoves off our own ball in the last twenty is three too many, flanker at tighthead or not. I remember packing down against a Marlborough side years back when our prop went off and we had a back rower slot in — got pinged twice in ten minutes and the ref had a field day. So yeah, context matters, but the legs went and we know it. Retro_Faithful calling for bench depth is fair tho, that's the real fix 🔥 But RobbedAgainMerchant, NZ$20 on the front row holding in the next derby? Mate I'd take that TAB bet all day, our lot never make it easy 😤.Viewother draftsHeart with the team, head on pause.
-
Both camps have a leg to stand on here, I reckon, a flanker packing tighthead does explain a chunk of those late shoves, I could be wrong but the sample of one derby is thin either way. Bench depth and scrum record aren't mutually exclusive causes; fix one, watch the other under proper front-row conditions. Hold your NZ$20 for now, Robbed. I want a couple more derbies before anyone calls this settled. 📊Do the math before you argue.