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How Waratahs props are training scrums amid social distancing rules

(Photo by Scott Barbour/Getty Images)

Digital has replaced physical as the method of keeping the NSW Waratahs connected, though at least one prop jokingly admits he’s going a bit crazy missing his regular scrummaging sessions.

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Team training ceased for two weeks from last Monday when Rugby Australia announced that a domestic competition slated to replace the suspended Super Rugby tournament had been put on hold.

WATCH: Premiership Rugby CEO Darren Childs joins the RugbyPod to discuss what the likelihood is that the season will be completed.

Video Spacer

Social distancing protocols have effectively ruled out scrums, an element of the game already being missed by some.

“I am a little bit, I’m going a bit crazy, but that’s probably a few things,” Tahs’ prop Harry Johnson-Holmes told AAP.

“I didn’t think I’d miss training live more as much as I have the past few days.

“There’s still a ban on passing the footy so I’ve been practising my chip and chase a lot just by myself.”

While Waratahs players are meeting in groups of two or three they are primarily staying connected through their computers

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‘We’ve been trialling out some video conference stuff which has been pretty funny to tinker around with,” Johnson-Holmes said.

“Going forward, we’re going look to have a lot of learning sessions through that so we can still keep the rugby mind active and keep those discussions going.

“At the moment it is going to be those video sessions that are going to be the best tool for us.

“Living in the digital world and having those kinds of resources are proving pretty handy.

“Scrummaging, obviously specifically the best practice for it, is doing it.

“But you can compartmentalise the whole scrum into mini-skills to make sure that certain techniques stay in.

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“Things like body shape … just make sure that muscle memory stays there.

Before team training finished, the Waratahs were allowed to take home equipment from the club’s gym, but Johnson-Holmes joked he’d been stitched up.

“I was caught off guard, I went into the final day not knowing that we were going to be able to raid the gym and I was on my motorbike, so I took a skipping rope and not too much else,” he said.

“(Backrower) Lachlan Swinton has got about 60 per cent of the entire gym in his basement at the moment.

“I’ve been blessed to get let into his gym, the membership fee is pretty ludicrous but its worth it because he’s got the equipment.

“A lot of blokes already had their home gyms but there was a few utes come out of the woodwork and blokes were making off with more steel than Newcastle back in the 80s.”

– AAP

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Flankly 1 hour ago
'Absolute madness': Clive Woodward rips into Borthwick in wake of NZ loss

Borthwick is supposed to be the archetypical conservative coach, the guy that might not deliver a sparkling, high-risk attacking style, but whose teams execute the basics flawlessly. And that's OK, because it can be really hard to beat teams that are rock solid and consistent in the rugby equivalent of "blocking and tackling".


But this is why the performance against NZ is hard to defend. You can forgive a conservative, back-to-basics team for failing to score tons of tries, because teams like that make up for it with reliability in the simple things. They can defend well, apply territorial pressure, win the set piece battles, and take their scoring chances with metronomic goal kicking, maul tries and pick-and-go goal line attacks.


The reason why the English rugby administrators should be on high alert is not that the English team looked unable to score tries, but that they were repeatedly unable to close out a game by executing basic, coachable skills. Regardless of how they got to the point of being in control of their destiny, they did get to that point. All that was needed was to be world class at things that require more training than talent. But that training was apparently missing, and the finger has to point at the coach.


Borthwick has been in the job for nearly two years, a period that includes two 6N programs and an RWC campaign. So where are the solid foundations that he has been building?

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