Fans can’t stand the tedium of multiple collapsed scrums. The grumbling displeasure is audible on the first reset.
Those who operate at the coalface of the scrum get fed up too. However, while they may find themselves tut-tutting, they will soon be trying to bend laws and bodies simultaneously. Leinster’s Rónan Kelleher not only champions a fair contest but explains the pitfalls in layman’s terms.
“To be honest, it’s a part of my game I do love, but we need to get to the point where we’re able to have that contest. That’s the big thing. People are trying to de-power teams by loading up and trying to pre-engage. That’s when it becomes messy.
“That is when teams are standing up, that’s when you don’t have a gap. You need that gap to be able to hit into. To allow both teams to get into a pushing position. Then it just becomes about technique and strength.
“Ask any front-rower and they enjoy that. They want to get into a pushing contest and actually compete. They don’t want to be making it messy.”
The conversation turns to the beleaguered supporters who fidget in frustration.
Kelleher said: “We don’t like it either. It’s also part of our game that we like, in terms of playing off a stable base, a scrum going forward. If we get a penalty advantage, it allows the backs to throw that extra pass. It’s something that we want to do.”
On Saturday, the Scarlets will pose a fresh examination for Leinster at the Aviva Stadium on foot of a recent victory in west Wales. A place in the semi-final of the United Rugby Championship is at stake.
One of the questions set is whether Leinster have figured out how to ensure a full-on contest at scrum time.
Kelleher explained: “They’re quite good, tricky to manage, to be fair. Someone like Ryan Elias is experienced, he’s quite good. Henry Thomas is obviously a very experienced scrummager as well. Alec Hepburn has been around the block. I think the word I’d use is ‘tricky’, to be honest.
“There has been a bit in the past about how some teams like to load up a lot of weight and you get that load on the neck in the scrum. I think they’re a team that probably favours that a bit. It’s just about how you manage that with the referee and how you get through that game.
“How you communicate that as well, because it’s important that we get clean scrums,” he said in the hope of avoiding a catalogue of collapsed set pieces or frontrows standing up because of the instability.
Kelleher has been selected to tour Australia with the Lions. Four years ago, in South Africa, he was called up late but didn’t feature.
This time he’s in from the get-go, an “original” in Andy Farrell’s squad. He had company at the big reveal. “I finished up training [at Leinster], grabbed the gear bag, ran home,” he said.
“I live with Hugo Keenan, so it was the two of us just watching it together. It was tense. When I left [Leinster training] I was like ‘jeez, it’s happening in the next half an hour’. But obviously it dragged on a bit. It was pretty nervy, the two of us just on the couch watching it.
“I was absolutely delighted once my name was called – thrilled. We had to wait another couple of minutes until Hugo’s name was called, so we could both celebrate together.”
The squad was called out in order of forwards first, then backs, rather than in alphabetical order.
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He continued: “As soon as my name was announced, my phone started buzzing. I had to throw it away until Hugo’s thing. It was pretty surreal to be honest, but it was unbelievable.”
For now, it’s all about Saturday’s game. The elation and excitement associated with all matters Lions has been put to the back of Kelleher’s mind.
He said: “It’s very much focused on the here and now. We (Leinster) were disappointed with the finish in Europe and now all our eyes are on this competition and trying to win this one (URC).”
The next step to beat the Scarlets.
