Vickery looking to push on
England prop Phil Vickery has thrown his weight behind the mission to revitalise England's scrum ahead of Saturday's clash with South Africa at Twickenham.
England prop Phil Vickery has thrown his weight behind the mission to revitalise England's scrum ahead of Saturday's clash with South Africa at Twickenham.
The former England skipper's call for improvements in the wake of last weekend's 14-28 defeat to Australia. England's pack bossed their Wallabies counterparts in the 2007 World Cup quarter-final – but were a different story last Saturday as Australia dominated the set piece and England's masterplan fell to pieces.
Twice in the second half, the Aussies pushed their hosts off the ball from an England feed, and Wallabies kicking supremo Matt Giteau gratefully gobbled up the chance for six extra points from two penalties.
It was a significant tale of two packs – and the scrummaging department has as a result come under scrutiny since last weekend's loss.
Vickery told Sky Sports he agreed that the problems were centred around the pack.
“There are a lot of issues within the scrum,” he said.
“It is not just about me, it is about a combination of guys who are coming together in the scrum ultimately as one.
“It was a combination of different things at the weekend. Disappointing, but we had two really bad scrums which was disappointing.”
The 2007 World Cup signalled a turning point for Australia's front row with huge improvements following on, as witnessed against New Zealand and South Africa in the Tri-Nations.
But England failed to see the new strength coming and when their tactic of pulling back into the hit stopped having the impact it had during that clash in Marseilles, indiscipline crept in and focus crept out as Australia started to boss the encounter.
“There were all kinds of things happening, collapsed scrums, re-setting, popping up,” added Vickery.
“There was probably a bit of frustration as well.
“You let things like that get to you and you lose focus on what you are there to do. It's a learning experience and one which we have to learn from.”
In the only change to the XV that started against Australia, England Manager Martin Johnson has brought in James Haskell at blindside flanker to add bulk to the pack, ahead of what is expected to be more of a push and grunt battle against the Springboks.
But whatever happens, Vickery hopes that the front eight have learnt a lesson from last weekend's setback.
“A lot of people seem to have a lot of opinions about the scrum,” he said.
“We have to learn from the weekend and develop ourselves both individually and as a team and try and combat that and overcome it.”