The Jaguares’ forward-powered wins in New Zealand are pointers for Waratahs against Crusaders
SUCCESSFUL forward strategies used by the Jaguares in New Zealand recently — as laid down by Mario Ledesma — are valuable pointers for the Waratahs when they take on the Crusaders.
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THE forward-based strategies of the Jaguares in New Zealand recently — as laid down by former NSW and Wallabies scrum coach Mario Ledesma — are valuable pointers for the Waratahs when they take on the Crusaders in Christchurch, according to Tahs prop Tom Robertson.
Stuffed full of Pumas Test players, the Jaguares finally fulfilled their huge potential by remaining unbeaten on their four-game tour of Australia and New Zealand.
While an Aussie team haven’t even managed to beat a Kiwi team at home in two years, the Argentinians beat the Blues and the Chiefs in successive weeks.
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With Ledesma in his debut season as coach, the Jaguares brought the power in their pack and outmuscled the Kiwis and Robertson said it would be silly to not take a few tips from their old coach on how to get the job done across the Tasman.
“They’ve certainly played well to the conditions,” Robertson said.
“Their forward pack has played very well over there. They’ve stepped up at scrum time and at maul time, and kept in close. They know, from a Jaguares perspective, their forward pack is their strength. If they try to match the Kiwi style and throw it around, they’re probably going to get outdone there.
“They play to their strengths and use their forward pack and that's something we can learn from. If we go over there and play strong as a forward pack, they’re going to be on the back foot and not be allowed to do what they want to do.”
Indeed, if the Tahs went through the video library and watched their last few wins in New Zealand, they’ll find exactly that: a dominant forward performance.
It’s easier said than done, and the Tahs have set up their 2018 season more around backline pace than forward power; leaving the question who will bring the whack of a Wycliff Palu, Jacques Potgieter or Dave Dennis.
But the Tahs showed against the Blues that their rolling maul was, arguably, their most consistent attacking weapon and Robertson said NSW would again look to use it in Christchurch.
“Certainly if we get the opportunity, we will try and do that this week. Christchurch it can be sunny and 25 one time, and minus 3 and raining the next. If it gets like that on the weekend we will certainly be going back to the maul,” he said.
The danger is falling into a Crusaders trap, added Robertson. One of the smartest teams in the comp, they’ll be expecting more rolling mauls.
Waratahs forwards coach Simon Cron said the key is building multiple points of attack from the one strength.
“It has got to be a weapon for us, week on week . we have got to be able to use it,” Cron said.
“But at the same time, if a team thinks we are going to maul and we run a special, then we’ll catch them that way. The key thing for us as a forward pack is to have teams know they a) have to be defend a maul b) have to defend the front c) have to defend the back and if they do that, we might sting them in the middle.
“For us it is the ability to sting them front, back and middle. And that’s where we’ll get our pay.”
Taking on the Crusaders in Christchurch is an incredibly difficult task but while Cron said there would be natural respect for the Kiwi champs, he rejected the notion there was an intimidation factor as well.
“They’ve earned respect over time, and through what they do,” Cron said.
“But I would never expect our players to be intimidated, and not take a backward step from the kick-off. We respect them but at the end of the day it’s 23 on 23 and we have to go at it from the kick-off.”
Originally published as The Jaguares’ forward-powered wins in New Zealand are pointers for Waratahs against Crusaders
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