By Angus Kennelly

Two pushover tries, four tightheads and four scrum penalties. It was 10 dominant scrums that proved the difference in Warringah’s impressive win over University of QLD last weekend.

If the Rats Australian Club Championship win is anything to go by, it seems Warringah have picked up exactly where they left off last season and their scrum played a big part in that.

Rats scrum coach Damien Cummins believes the club is reaping the benefits of training that began in October 2016.

“It has been a lot of hard work, we have been working with a core group of players for 18 months now.”

However Cummins attributes the clubs instantaneous return to form to a Christmas without scrums.

“When I first joined the Rats I did a lot of scrum work before Christmas.”

“This year we started scrum training in mid January. A lot of the boys played in the National Rugby Championship and we didn’t want them to burn out halfway through this season. To be honest starting scrums early wasn’t needed.”

The scrum that fronted-up against UQ boasted some new faces – Harry Rorke, Ruaridh Mackenzie and Max Girdler.

Rorke has spent the past few seasons playing No.8 at Gordon but shifted to the front row last year before joining Warringah ahead of their 2018 campaign.

“He’s got pure strength, he’s tall and strong. Rorke just needs to work on the technical aspects that comes with being in the front row. He has worked hard, but on the same token he’s a naturally gifted player and has picked things up pretty quickly. I reckon he’ll come on pretty well this year.”

Ruaridh Mackenzie started at No.8 pushing vice captain Sam Ward into the second row. The 22-year old also linked with Warringah this year after spending several seasons with UK club Glasgow Warriors.

“Mackenzie plays a different sort of game to Ward, who is an up and down ball runner. He is a very fit player and was on fire against the UQ.”

Ward’s move to the second row doesn’t appear to have fazed him at all and Cummins thinks the Rats big man now wishes he played in the ‘engine room’ earlier.

“He’s been itching to get into the second row, every time we have a tight five scrum session he’s soaking up all the details – you might see him there permanently.”

Blindside flanker Max Girdler is a local product and has risen up through the Warringah junior system.

“He had a great season in the back row last year and came off the bench for first grade a few times. He’s a very fit player who gets through a load of work- I back him to have a smashing season this year.”

With Mackenzie and Girdler in the back row it may seem like the Rats are looking to play with a more dynamic back row this year but Cummins says that’s not the case.

“We’re still going to have a hard-edge back row, especially with guys like Tom Tomkins and Sam Ward. It’s not about a dynamic game, it’s more about trying to fit some very good players into eight spots.”

Spoilt for choice, Cummins also has a formidable bench to turn to in the back end of games. Reserve hooker Rob Kelly scored two tries while reserve prop Baxter King also impressed at scrum time.

“When Baxter King came on we got a tight head straight away. I was really happy with the consistency of the scrum throughout the game.”

The dominant scrum allowed Warringah to take the lion’s share of possession (63%) and territory (71%).

“In the first half they were only in our 22 once.”

However it wasn’t all smooth sailing for the Rats and Cummins described the game as ‘clunky’ with players still ‘trying to find their feet’. He’s also revoked a number of his forwards’ kicking licenses, after several wayward kicks.

“We had a lot of ball, we just didn’t use it well. A few errors, a lot of drop ball and some cut out passes that weren’t needed.”

“It wasn’t the greatest performance but we were able to maintain possession.”