Rugby World Cup: vastly improved Fiji scrummaging keeps wary Wallabies on their toes

THE Wallabies Argentinian scrum guru says he was one of the few not surprised to see Fiji bossing England’s set-piece around in the Rugby World Cup opener.

Fiji's and England's players vie in a scrum during a Pool A match of the 2015 Rugby World Cup between England and Fiji at Twickenham stadium in south west London on September 18, 2015. AFP PHOTO / GABRIEL BOUYS RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE, NO USE IN LIVE MATCH TRACKING SERVICES, TO BE USED AS NON-SEQUENTIAL STILLS

THE Wallabies Argentinian scrum guru says he was one of the few not surprised to see Fiji bossing England’s set-piece around in the Rugby World Cup opener — because the Pacfic Islanders now have a South African scrum coach.

Set-piece coach Mario Ledesma joined Michael Cheika and other members of the Australian coaching staff in making a trip up from their Bath camp to Twickenham to see pool rivals England hold off a gallant Fiji in the World Cup opener.

Many were amazed to see Fjii push the host nation — trailing only 18-11 in the second half — and in particular cause the English scrum all sorts of problems.

The Fiji scrum gave England plenty of problems at Twickenham.

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But Ledesma said he was not shocked at all and had been telling his players that their underrated “minnow” rivals in pool A had some serious grunt upfront.

Ledesma said the addition of former Bulls coach Frans Ludeke to the Fiji coaching staff had made them a scrummaging and line out force.

“They have a South African coach so they have a style of scrummaging that’s really similar to what’s going on over in South Africa — and its exactly the opposite to what the northern hemisphere are doing. They (England) might have been a little bit surprised,” Ledesma said.

“A lot of people have not been thinking about Fiji but I have been looking at the game against Canada, the game against Japan, Samoa, even Wales last year.

“Most of the time they were dominating. Nobody paying attention because it’s not a World Cup, no-one really cares about Fiji but they’ve been doing well for the last year or so. They have this coach (Ludeke) for that time.

“Honestly, no kidding, I’ve been showing the boys the Fiji scrum for the last couple of days and they’ve been really good.”

Mario Ledesma has nothing but praise for Fiji’s pack.

The Wallabies will meet Fiji in their first game of the World Cup on Thursday morning (EST) in Cardiff.

Australia’s scrummaging reputation has probably only been a few steps above Fiji’s in recent years but like their pool An opponent, the Wallabies have made decent strides under the guidance of a foreign mastermind: Ledesma.

Veteran prop Sekope Kepu says the Wallabies won’t underestimate the Fiji forwards.

“As much as they’ve got that flair and everything, that tends to take the attention away from their set piece. Their lineouts and scrums were great (against England), we’ve got to be at the top of our game,” Kepu said.

“They’ve got two platforms that they can be confident in playing off. In the past they were 50-50, but they’re winning ball when they want and they’ve got a very similar structure to the Bulls with their coach (Ludeke).

“They’ve got the natural flair so they’ve got threats all over the park.

‘We’ve just got to play our game and not give them those windows of opportunities.”

Sekope Kepu says Fiji have threats all over the park.

Ledesma said they wouldn’t need to adapt their proven method to deal with Fiji, and while his players haven’t been buying into the noise of Australia having fixed all their scrum problems, he added they had been enjoying a rare tour in the UK without headlines about their set-piece.

“We’re lucky enough that over here in Bath no one pays attention. For the last couple of day there’s nobody here and we’re going to a press conference and maybe there’s two guys. We’re kind of in a bubble. Maybe a little pressure comes next week with Fiji but right now I don’t think the boys are reading anything,” he said.

“We’re not changing or adapting anything, for Fiji or England. I believe in what we’re doing, whatever the position comes in our way.

“On a good day if we’re respecting what we’re training we can match up on any scrum. I really believe in what we’re doing and the boys really believe in what we’re doing.”

Originally published as Rugby World Cup: vastly improved Fiji scrummaging keeps wary Wallabies on their toes