Long after training is complete, Wallabies scrum coach Mike Cron is pouring over live footage with the front-row looking for the perfect scrum.
Cron’s approach is meticulous, with the three-on-three scrums filmed from multiple angles and relayed straight onto a large screen for instant feedback.
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He leans on veterans Allan Alaalatoa and James Slipper to deliver feedback throughout the session as they delve into the nuance of the set piece that has troubled Wallabies' sides in past years.
“I’m just quietly educating them on how we all work together,” Cron said to reporters.
“It’s a special little time, we’re not smashing the hell out of each other. We’re just learning off each other, using a lot of video feedback to get some good learning growth.
“I think it’s the best session of the week when they do that. You can just muck around around whilst the backs are inside eating or doing weights and we can do what we want to do.”
Cron’s influence was seen straight away with the scrums earning several penalties against a solid Welsh pack.
“I think the boys in the first two Tests have scrummaged pretty good, they’re winning good, fast ball when we want it and won a few penalties through the opposition not staying squad and straight,” he notes.
“They’re learning as they scrum well, they got more energy around the paddock because you’re losing less energy at scrum-time so the more efficient you are the better you are around the paddock."
The true test will come this week against Georgia, who have the dark arts Cron lives off bred into their life as early as their ABCs.
“They like confrontation. They like mauling, hitting it up and their scrummaging so that’s their DNA and always have so they’re a real challenge for whoever we pick,” Cron notes.
“…It’s a normal Georgian scrum, a lot of the boys play in France so I’m used to the French style. We understand that so we just train them to get ready for it and the way the boys been going in the first Tests, they’re going good.”
Cron is also assisting to shore up the rolling maul, which conceded three tries in two matches against Wales.
Whilst there’s not an overnight fix, the Kiwi is confident the improvements are coming.
“It’s not a simple change at all, it depends on who you’ve got in there and you have a system and you need to coach them to be able to do that system…it’s like a defensive system and the backline, it takes time for them to understand and learn it," he added.
“I think the attitude is great. I think they bar up good and are trying every bit of what they’ve got and now what we’re going to do is give them a bit more technique and training to try and help them. You can’t fault their attitude.
"...You have about two seconds to control it, after that you’re buggered."
