Angus Ta’avao knows what it feels to return home to New Zealand as rugby wreckage, a reclamation project. He was unceremoniously dumped by the Waratahs back in 2017, after two seasons spent in New South Wales. He had taken the risk to try and qualify for the Wallabies via his Australian mother, and it failed:
“[NSW head coach] Daryl Gibson came to me and he said, ‘We don’t have a contract for you next year. It was sort of like a punch to the gut, because I still felt like I had so much good rugby to play. I still felt like I could offer more’.”
Angus Ta’avao was proven right. His Super Rugby contract was picked up by the Chiefs back in New Zealand and within one season he was a fully-fledged tighthead prop for the All Blacks.
At six-feet-four-inches tall and 124 kilos, Ta’avao is built along similar lines to the man who has replaced him, probably permanently, as starter on the right side of the New Zealand scrum. That man is 27-year-old Tyrel Lomax, who is the same height, and even heavier than Ta’avao at 127 kilos.
Their careers have clear parallels. Like the Chiefs man, Lomax tried his luck in the Australian version of Super Rugby with the Melbourne Rebels. He was already a part of Michael Cheika’s wider 48-man Wallaby squad in 2017 when he departed for the Highlanders, by way of the Tasman Mako in the Mitre 10 Cup one year later.
The son of ex-Kiwi rugby league prop John Lomax has not looked back since, not even a glance has been wasted at ‘what might have been’ in Australia. Then-coach of the Mako (and soon-to-be All Blacks assistant) Leon MacDonald saw his potential immediately:
“Even though he’s young, his frame and attitude set him apart. He is aspiring to make the All Blacks and we are very proud that he sees Tasman as the pathway for him. For him to pack down alongside stalwarts like Tim Perry and Kane Hames is exciting for the future of Tasman rugby.”
Australia’s loss has most definitely been New Zealand’s gain, both on and off the field. Ta’avao and Lomax have now won 47 national caps between them, and the former has ensconced himself very comfortably indeed on the couch at Sky Sport’s The Breakdown rugby debate program while he watches his young protegé rise to ever more rarefied heights in the game.
On Saturday, Ta’avao would have been relishing the performance of a starting All Blacks front row which dismantled the Pumas scrum systematically, right from the beginning of the game. The run-on trio of Ethan de Groot, Dane Coles and Lomax won four of the five penalties New Zealand juiced from the set-piece:
As soon as Lomax takes that shuffle-step forward with his right foot in the first clip, his opponent Thomas Gallo cannot recover. He finishes in the same uncomfortably familiar tangle as Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro in my previous article, lamenting the decline of Argentine scrummaging. Gallo’s torso is forced up and his head is driven outside the tunnel, and that means a conclusive triumph for the tighthead.
Both Ta’avao and Lomax returned to New Zealand primarily in order to rediscover the dark arts of scrummaging on the tighthead which they had temporarily mislaid in Australia. With Jason Ryan’s arrival as forwards coach, Tyrel Lomax has succeeded in laying the foundations of the new model All Black scrum. As Ta’avao pointed out in the Sky Sports studio, all that remains is picking the right bench back-up against the Springbok ‘bomb squad’:
“I do back young [Crusader swing-man] Tamaiti Williams, but I don’t know whether this is the right time to chuck him in. 22 years old, young buck, he has come a long way in the last couple of years.
“But Ofa [Tu’ungafasi] and Nepo [Laulala]: they’ve been there, they’ve played these teams, they’re physical, they know what it takes.
“I have to back my mate Samisoni, so Codie Taylor starts, with Samisoni on the bench.”
Laying the foundations means more than just dominating the scrum. The All Blacks also held the upper hand at lineout time, winning 90 per cent of their own throw while either stealing or spoiling five of Argentina’s 12 feeds from touch. That meant the Pumas had no obvious entry points into the game via either set-piece, because they were always under pressure at both.
Angus Ta’avao went on to make an important observation how about how set-piece dominance needs to be supported by accurate lines of running in the midfield triangle:
“I think [No 10 Damian McKenzie] building into that game was a product of the people around him. He had a bit of a jittery start, but ‘Nuggy’ [Aaron Smith] inside him and Jordie [Barrett] outside with a man-of-the-match performance, really helped him settle and build into the game.”
With McKenzie’s natural tendency to run cross-field and follow the direction of his own passes in view, the two New Zealand centres both played very tight, hard and square to the advantage line to mitigate any lateral movement on attack:
Scott Barrett steals the Argentine lineout throw, and Rieko Ioane’s first step after receiving the pass from McKenzie is inside, straightening the line, north-south, directly upfield. The All Blacks scored a couple of phases later:
Throughout the match, Jordie Barrett and Rieko Ioane at centre played within a metre or two of one another, both running hard and straight and leaving the wider arcs to McKenzie and the back three:
Jordie either took the first pass with Damian McKenzie sliding around the back, or with McKenzie passing and quickly wrapping around him to become available on the next play. As Sam Cane highlighted in the post-match presser, the combination of ground-gaining carries and close support made for a lot of easy cleanouts for the likes of the All Blacks No 7 and No 13, and produced lightning-quick ball for McKenzie and the back three: “Our ball-carrying was really good first half, and that made it easier for the guys cleaning out.”
As soon as either Barrett or Ioane felt McKenzie beginning to shift sideways, they immediately ironed out the lateral drift and straightened the attack:
That scoring phase came after an initial carry by Barrett on a switch with McKenzie, with the flyhalf naturally running away flat and his midfielder square to the line after the pass had been made:
The pièce de resistance for All Black planning around the set-piece arrived in the 56th minute of the game:
The scrum is rock-solid and produces prime attacking ball, McKenzie runs away flat for the wrap around a pair of hard-running centres, and New Zealand has the match-up it really wants on McKenzie’s second touch. The diminutive blonde No 10 is on his favourite running line, and in a foot race to the corner with the Argentine No 13, who has already been drawn in towards midfield by the lines taken inside by Barrett and Ioane. It is a no-contest:
When Angus Ta’avao and Tyrel Lomax first returned to New Zealand shores, it was with the intention of repairing their reputations at the set-piece, which had suffered plenty of situational damage during their time with the New South Wales Waratahs and the Melbourne Rebels respectively.
To their credit, both made the necessary scrum fixes and have become bona fide, Test-worthy All Black tighthead props. With Joe Schmidt and Jase Ryan now working directly underneath head coach Ian Foster, the foundations of the game at set-piece, and in the first three phases of attack are now looking very solid indeed.
The scrum is aggressive and won a bunch of penalties against the Pumas, while the tandem of Jordie Barrett and Rieko Ioane in the centres auto-corrected any lateral movement from No 10 Damian McKenzie by straightening the line immediately. That in turn gave success in the hard yards through contact, easy cleanouts for the support, and lightning-quick ball on the next phase.
The real test will come next weekend against the Springboks. South Africa will bring greater megatonnage at the scrum and they will bring it for 80 minutes with the ‘bomb squad’ from the bench, and they will attack the Kiwi ball carriers from the outside in far more combatively than Argentina. There will be pressure coming from all sides, and it will be a case of ‘devil will take the hindmost’ at the finish.
You may wish to adjust your set. Your underpants are showing. On your head.
New article up, so back in your box you go! Easy.
And you clearly have a difficulty with letting it go! 🤣
I am always delighted to go the extra mile to help a soul in need - you clearly do not 'play well with others' so look upon my responses as a helping hand. A first baby step, if you like!
No, thank you for proving my point! Couldn’t help yourself, eh! I’m not saying you are predictable but there are, as of yet undiscovered species of alien on the far side of the galaxy who knew you were going to respond with that. Anyway, feel free to keep going - I’m sure you are proving everything to your audience. As far as I am aware, at this point, that remains you alone.
Thanks for proving my point. 😂
I enjoy talking with hundreds of diff posters on forums all over the world, The debates are great.
I can stick the odd bad apple like yourself every once in while!
I'll even carry them a few rounds. No problem.
And just look at how often you keep responding to any poster in an attempt to shout them down. You don’t debate, you beligerate. As a point of investigation, let's see if you can’t help yet again to respond to this comment! As pointed out before, the person who has chosen to personalise all this is you and, as a point of fact, you were wrong. Tamaiti Williams could handle and impose himself at international level - no problems. Bower, not available and struggled in the scrum last year against the Boks. Ofa? Dropped in favour of Williams. 'Big Karl’ had several years to make an impact and didn’t. Face it, you are just wrong!
Just look at the number of times you use the word 'Wrong' and 'No' in reply to the opinions of others.
That will tell you how much room for debate you allow.
You demand facts from others without providing any of your own. Fact.
So.... FYI, Tamaiti had one run, one tackle an two okay scrums in his 21' on the field - nothing a Bower or an Ofa or big Karl could not match, or exceed.
In conclusion, here's to your (zero) self-awareness! 🥂
Wrong. You have posted non-stop on this thread to try and assert your ‘genius’ about how Williams would be weak in the scrum. He wasn’t. The fact that you want to personalise this beyond that point is testament to your own failing and aggression.
There is only one of us who can only accept one single view of Tamaiti Williams as 'right' and becomes rude and aggressive when anyone dares to debate it - and it ain't me. Take a good look in the mirror fella....
Overall it's well worth it Fran, the decent posters like yourself and many others far outweigh the bad apples like Rory.
My God you showed patience there Nick. What is it about these sites that attracts such opinionated one eyed people as Rory and John! !
There is a whole transcript you you talking nonsense right here. As I pointed out to North&south, who tried to argue from authority rather than stick to facts, you have done pretty much the same thing. That and belligerently keep arguing after the event. You are the bully on this thread, and most people reading it can see that.
Stop talking nonsense. Like Angus T. I thought Nepo was the better choice at bench THP and the selectors made a great decision there.
For me, TW was never a big gamble and I said so earlier.
For whatever reason your fevered imagination has made a mountain out of a molehill - you already tried to bully a poster (North & South) who dared to question you about it. Very sad.
Come back when you can keep a civil tongue in your head. Or not. I'm not fussed either way.
Again, you were the one questioning Williams’ selection along with a bunch of other assertions. Your analysis was wrong. What is one eyed is when you can’t even admit to the evidence of your eyes.
He was alright and deserves more chances, which he will get - no more than that.
Nepo was even better at THP, but I guess you didn't see that out of your one eye. 🤣
Wrong.
I think the actual match performance of Williams in his first test proves that you hit your limit some time ago.
6'5 has never been normal for a prop, it's an outlier. A simple check of the heights of props currently playing interational rugby will show you that. Only Uini Atonio currently that height. Andy Sheridan (also 6'5) was the same era as Carl, so there were one or two around then too.
The only bloke you need to call out is yourself. I gave you the penalty stats for THPs in SRP, but you ignored them. Disappointing from a convo viewpoint, but hey we've hit your limit - nothing much more to say.
Put it this way, Hayman was a giant among men during his time. Nowadays, international props of his size are normal. And, again, I’ll call you out for the fact that you made the the pound for pound claim, not I. You’re the one who needs to back up the claim with facts.
Let's hope the lad goes well, he will certainly be tested at more stringently than anything in SRP.
I know what you think, I am trying to dig down to find out why you think it. Give me some hard evidence, I'm all ears.
Is there any factual bite behind the bark? 😁
I’m not the one making the claim about Hayman being ‘pound for pound’ a better scrummager so I’m not the one who needs to back up any statement with ‘impressions’ or anything else. You seem to be obsessed by trying to assert that Williams isn’t ready for international rugby or that he is a weak scrummager. The facts do not support your assertion.
And Woody may have been introduced in 2002, but he certainly wasn’t highlighted as needing to work on his scrummage during this time.
If anybody gives away game winning penalties we won’t here the last of it, but this is as likely to be any prop who can’t cut the mustard. Williams is better than most.
Then how do you account for Williams outscrumaging Laulala pretty much every time they have met?
I asked you a question. Do you have any concrete evidence, or just vague impressions and guesses?..... Still waiting on that one 😀
[And FYI, 'Woody' did have a long development curve like Hayman - he needed two bites at the cherry at Test level.]
Ofa maybe, Nepo not.
Well, you are also forgetting that it is a different era. Scrummaging as a whole these days involves bigger men and a higher level of force in the contact, including scrums. Anecdotal evidence really doesn’t cut it.
And I am well aware that Hayman took time to adjust his body position, but that doesn’t apply to all props. His erstwhile partner, Tony Woodcock, for example, didn’t have the same length of development.
If he gives away a game-winning pen (always possible as the games between the two over the last 4-5 years have been very close) we will never hear the end of it!
Who cares guys, hes dynamite around the field 👋
It warmed the heart to see a lad like Lomax choose the same country as his dad. Though you’d have to imagine the jersey was also just as empowering. I imagine he could have been quite happy to represent Australia as well. Ta’avao was also a great story when it was quite some year for the Chiefs, and of more than a couple for their front rowers in general. Fairly fortunate, when you’ve also got the massive De Groot, from where I don’t know, and both Holland and Segner who look destined for higher honors. Then theres also Ainsley. I’m not sure I’d place a lot of credit on New Zealand’s scrummaging prowess for their meteoric rise though.
While you’re right, the center tactic complements Dmac, he himself also has been running much straighter onto the ball (fairly heavily to his detriment in the SR final) this year. This could be the key difference this year, from a few seasons ago when they tried this aggressive passing off Havili and failed with very passive and static 10’s in Barrett/Mounga. I’m not sure Barrett has much better ball playing skills but when Havili made things click that backline certainly looked dangerous and exciting. Problem was a few teams who could shut him down, maybe Foster is working on being able to play just a little bit slicker now. Front foot ball will certainly make life easier. Still, they made a heck of a lot of errors in this game, especially considering the opposition.
So how many tries in the first 3 phases in this game? Would love to know the difference in this stat between games above and below 7 point margins
Yes IIRC Tyrel represented the green and gold at u-20 level, so he must have felt dual qualified...
I don't how or why you lump Mo'unga together with BB as a static #10 though. Hardly.
NZ went 3+ phases on seven occasions to the Pumas two in the match - seeing a pattern?
Not a huge one admittedly, but it could have been mitigated by easing him in v Aussie against Bell or Gibbon or Schoupp.
Yep a goodly amount of truth in that, the one plaus Neop has over TW is the wider range of experience, esp v the Boks. There was a presser with Codie Taylor and TW the other day and Codie asked him whether he'd played any teams from SA. The anser was 'no', and that is the only bit that would concern me. Nepo knows what to expect!
Right! Oops.
The gamble (IMO) is continuing to choose Laulala (and Tu'ungafasi) and hoping for a different result. Laulala is pretty good in the scrum (still gets bested) and rather immobile around the park with nowhere near the ball skills of TW. I haven't seen TW get bullied yet and think he deserves his shot.
It isn’t a gamble.
"all that remains is picking the right bench back-up against the Springbok ‘bomb squad"
this aspect of selection has been Foster's biggest achilles heel.
Foster appears to be to be quite conservative with selections, he trusts incumbents to a fault even if their performances aren't as compelling to justify their pick.
There's an illustrative moment in the Amazon documentary about the All Blacks during the 2017 Lions series when Hansen asks Foster to consider switching Savea to the right and playing Rieko on the left. Foster was adamant it was a foolish idea to try so close to naming the team and Hansen said "just be open to it"
There were some confounding bench selections last year just when we felt he had finally stumbled on to the right players in key positions, particularly in the front row.
He persists with Laulala as an impact player when he is the opposite of the definition, not Nepo's fault, he'll give 100% to the coach and the jersey, but there are alternatives - just be open to it Fozzie.
It looks to me from the B/R selection that Jase Ryan is getting the ppl he wants, and that will be doubly so in the front row.
Coaches are tending to go with stronger set-piece guys more off the bench so that prob keeps Nepo in the frame, having said that I would not be surprised if Owie Franks offered just as much value even now!