Scrums are carnage!

Saracens boss Mark McCall and his Ospreys counterpart Sean Holley have both expressed their frustration at the state of the scrum.

Saracens boss Mark McCall and his Ospreys counterpart Sean Holley have both expressed their frustration at the state of officiating around scrums.

McCall was the happier of the two coaches after seeing his team claim a 16-13 Heineken Cup win at the Liberty Stadium on Friday but the duo were singing from the same hymn sheet with regards to the set piece.

Referee Jerome Garces showed yellow cards to Ospreys prop Paul James and Saracens hooker Schalk Brits for scrum separate offences – much to the bemusement of the six international forwards in the respective front rows – and awarded a steady stream of penalties and free-kicks at the set-piece in a tit-for-tat fashion, disrupting the rhythm of a brutal contest.

Wales prop James was sin-binned just before the interval for failing to bind, while former Springbok Brits' yellow card was handed out for an early engagement.

“Schalk's sin-binning was the first time I have seen someone sin-binned for early engagement. The scrums were carnage tonight,” said McCall.

“In the old days you used to practice scrum moves but coaches have stopped doing that as there is a free-kick or penalty at every scrum so there is no need for those moves.”

Holley was equally dismayed.

“I don't where we are going with the scrum, at one point there were 11 penalties from 12 scrums,” added the Ospreys boss.

“We had three penalties in a row five metres out, and then one went against us. Nobody knows what is going on there and it's frustrating for players and fans and I don't know what else to say. Are we better off not having scrums?

“Referees have a difficult job to do and they are instructed to look at certain things. I asked at half-time if it was just a Paul James issue as it seemed harsh for one guy from 16 to be singled out.

“(Ospreys forwards coach) Jonathan Humphreys was pointing out the illegality and angle of (Saracens tighthead) Matt Stevens but Paul James gets sin-binned, I just don't know to be honest with you.”

Saracens director McCall was more positive about his team's defensive effort however has they stayed at the top of Pool 5. The Ospreys dominated territory and possession but were forced into countless errors by Saracens' suffocating performance on defence.

“That was massive for us,” he said.

“We spoke about needing to back up a good performance and a good win last weekend against a good team who were unbeaten on their home park for a very long time and we have done that.
“It was a different game to last weekend, it was scrappy and we had to roll our sleeves up and dig in, I have nothing but respect for our group. We were down to 14 men for 20 minutes in that second half and they still worked and worked, they are a special group.”

Holley meanwhile was left to rue the mistakes that had cost the hosts.

“A couple of errors cost us,” he said.

“To concede a try from a charge down was very frustrating.
“We dominated territory and possession and some errors at crucial moments cost us. But full credit to Saracens, they have an outstanding defence and we couldn't break it down.
“I can't fault the effort and attitude of the players, they went for it and didn't leave anything on the field. We couldn't ask much more than to tidy up some bits of accuracy.”