NRL Round 7: Save Our Scrums

NRL Round 7: Save Our Scrums

The NRL is in a pretty good place right now.

Fan engagement is up and blowout scores are down as the greatest game of all finds the right balance to deliver an entertaining product.

We haven’t always had it this good, rule changes have made the NRL a difficult game to follow in recent years, but we’ve figured it out on the run to be where we are today.

One debate that refuses to be put to bed though is the relevance of scrums in the modern game.

There seems to be never-ending conjecture over when or how scrums can be won against the feed, or the value of packing a scrum without contesting the ball.

We often hear this rhetoric from the same purists who will tell you the game has gone soft or that we need to bring back the biff.

Don’t listen to them.

In an era where we’re trying to bring ‘the little guy’ back into the game, scrums provide us with some of the cleanest attacking actions, each and every week.

It’s also a great equaliser.

Good teams will score good tries no matter the context of the game, but scrums present lesser sides with an opportunity to execute shape from a set-piece and potentially level the playing field.

We’ve been championing scrums at Rugby League Writers for a long time.

Tries from scrums are some of the best actions to breakdown from an analytical perspective.

The extra time and space afforded to attacking teams allows them to execute actions they might otherwise struggle to.

They’re also actions we know they’ve practised on the training paddock during the week, and it’s pleasing to see teams put it all together on game-day – regardless of the colours you wear.

Let’s have a look back at four scoring actions from set-pieces last week, with an eye towards Round 7 and where some potential try scorer value might be found…

Bulldogs: Jacob Kiraz & Jake Averillo

The beauty of this one is in it’s simplicity.

There’s no substitute for speed and the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs used their pacey outside backs to perfection when Jake Averillo scored first points on Friday night.

Set up from a midfield scrum, the Bulldogs stack the left-hand side of the field and leave just two players – Jacob Kiraz and Jake Averillo – on the right edge.

The Rabbitohs react accordingly, with Taane Milne and Cody Walker covering one half of the field as Reed Mahoney feeds the scrum. Neither are defensive slouches but it’s a speed-mismatch in favour of the Bulldogs given how much room they have to work with.

Kiraz takes possession and quickly sizes up Milne in front of him. A few steps forward sits Milne on his heels before Kiraz bounces off his left foot and heads towards Walker’s inside shoulder.

Averillo mirrors Kiraz’s movements perfectly, both players shift in unison to the edge and when Kiraz releases the pass, Averillo already has Walker beat on the outside.

Canterbury’s field position works in their favour here. Walker and Milne are positioned nice and tight, clearly not expecting a shift to the edge from deep in Bulldogs territory, and some heads up play from Kiraz and Averillo makes them pay.

Warriors: Shaun Johnson & Adam Pompey

Every other week the talking heads call for Shaun Johnson to run the ball more, it’s lazy commentary.

Johnson isn’t built to tuck the ball under his arm and challenge the defence.

Instead, his speed and the subtleties of his ball-playing are perfect tools to isolate defenders in the line and create scoring opportunities for his team-mates.

This one has been living rent-free in my head since Sunday afternoon.

Using his speed, Johnson squares up his opposite man before quickly bouncing to the outside.

He’s got Jayden Brailey’s number which puts Bradman Best in all kinds of trouble defending one channel wider at left centre.

Best knows that Brailey will need help to contain Johnson if he runs, but he also knows that Adam Pompey is coming off the back fence at his outside shoulder.

Best gives Brailey as much time as possible to recover on Johnson, but when the Warriors halfback throws the dummy and straightens off his right foot, Best turns in.

Two steps is all it takes for Johnson to engage his target, and at the very moment that Best plants his feet, Johnson pops a pass off his hip for Pompey to collect. Try time.

Some lovely variation from the Warriors saw Johnson send Pompey over for his second in similar fashion.

It’s Brailey and Best under pressure again here, but instead of digging deep into the line Johnson this time plays nice and early to his centre.

Pompey is running a hard line at Best’s inside shoulder – the space that Johnson himself had targeted in the first scoring action – and his pre-line movement gets Best to jam in when the pass is released.

Having forced his opposite man into a decision, Pompey then punishes it with a wicked specialist-centre move.

He cranks off the left foot to slip past the Best tackle and crash over for a well-executed double.

This is Johnson at his magic, brilliant best and it’s a repeatable action we can expect to see from the Warriors again in 2023.

Dolphins: Isaiya Katoa, Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow & Jamayne Isaako

Playing in just his fifth NRL game last week, Isaiya Katoa produced a coming-of-age performance to help The Dolphins register their fourth win of the season.

Coming up against a much more experienced halves pairing, it was Katoa who executed a gameplan with the ball smartly to challenge an unfamiliar defensive combination on the Cowboys left edge.

Brendan Elliott had a tough night trying to contain Katoa, Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow and Jamayne Isaako in attack, as evident in this scoring action from a midfield scrum.

A good pass from Jeremy Marshall-King here is crucial.

His service allows Katoa to get over the advantage line and engage Tom Dearden defending at three-man (three defenders in from the touchline).

Scott Drinkwater works hard to apply pressure from the inside, but the pass beats him and Katoa is able to straighten the attack.

With Dearden holding on Katoa and Valentine Holmes worried about Brenko Lee, Elliott is left to contain Tabuai-Fidow and Isaako out wide.

In his indecision, Elliott doesn’t hit either option and is left in no-man’s-land when ‘The Hammer’ takes possession.

With a lovely swerve and a clean pass, Tabuai-Fidow sums things up to put Isaako over in the corner.

Great footy from The Dolphins and some promising involvements from their rookie halfback.

Broncos: Ezra Mam, Reece Walsh & Selwyn Cobbo

They might’ve dropped their first game of the 2023 NRL season, but Brisbane’s speed and strike power on the edges still caused some issues for the Canberra Raiders in Round 6.

Setting up on the left-scrum line for this one, the Broncos made no secret of where the ball was going to go. Instead, they fell into shape and dared Canberra to try and stop them.

Ezra Mam drifts across-field with the ball in hand, faking to drop Payne Haas under before straightening to bring Jordan Riki onto the ball.

That pre-pass movement gets the attention of Brad Schneider defending at four-man, and when Mam throws out the back to Reece Walsh the alarm bells start ringing.

With Schneider already beaten on the outside, Jarrod Croker and Albert Hopoate are stuck in the mud.

Both defenders hold their position in the line for as long as they can, but the speed of Walsh prevents them from sliding out to defend the overlap.

A beautifully timed pass from Walsh gets Selwyn Cobbo outside his man just before Croker and Hopoate slide out, and the power and skill of Cobbo finishes things off from there.

In a week where Mam has volunteered himself as Adam Reynolds’ successor in the No.7 jersey, this action is a promising one for Broncos fans.

A 20-14 loss to Canberra was a blip on the radar in a season where Brisbane are playing to their strengths across the park.

This set-piece highlights the buffet of attacking talent the Broncos have out wide; Mam’s ballplaying, Walsh’s speed, the gravity of Kotoni Staggs as a ball runner and the finishing ability of Cobbo.