Ireland will not face the same scrum issues against France in the Six Nations as they did against Wales, according to scrum coach John Fogarty
Ireland scrum coach John Fogarty has criticised Wales for their lack of 'willingness to get into a contest' – and is expecting a different challenge against France. Despite securing an important Six Nations win against the revitalised Welsh last month, Ireland's scrum was an issue as they gave away four penalties at the set-piece in the first half.
Amid hopes of a second Grand Slam in three years, much will depend on how Ireland contend with one of the most formidable packs in the tournament when they host the French on Saturday. Ex-prop Fogarty is optimistic that there won't be a repeat against Les Bleus. He attributes the scrum problems against Wales to the home side's engagement in the dark arts, particularly during the setup and engagement phases of the scrum. Ireland have since asked for feedback from officials as they look to hone their approach, with Fogarty claiming that Wales were "conceding on 'set' and looking for the ground". "There are lots of different reasons why a scrum could collapse. Sometimes it's us, sometimes it's not," he said. "The scrum just seemed to go away from us, so we are trying to hit nice and hard, and the scrum just goes away, collapses on 'set'. "Some of the Welsh players were conceding on 'set' and looking for the ground. It becomes very, very difficult to keep a scrum up. If you want to collapse the scrum, it's quite easy. " Very different picture this week. France are a very big pack, huge power in their pack, but they want to get into a contest. "If one side is pre-engaged and the other side isn't, you get this disjointed entry, which leads to movement and so on. So, with speaking to the referees, their focus is making sure that we get to a contest and that this space exists on 'bind'. And there were times that didn't exist in the Welsh game. "There were times when one side was in and the other side was out. It leads to movement, leads to messiness, leads to collapses. It's not good to watch. "So we got some nice feedback around how that will look for us against France. It takes two teams and a referee to do it. So, Jesus, if it was straightforward, I probably wouldn't have a job!" Despite Andrew Porter and Tom Clarkson being penalised twice each against Wales, Fogarty is optimistic about their chances against France. He added: "You look at the first two rounds with regards to the scrum, we were getting nice entries. We're in a contest and it's good to watch and we got some good outcomes."
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