Q&A
Ben Jaycock speaks to Northampton scrum coach Matt Fergurson about their victorious Premiership campaign and the game’s issues around the set-piece
Tell us about your emotions at Twickenham after beating Bath in such a tense final?
It was a real rollercoaster of emotions. Once the final whistle went, I just fell into a mix of relief and exhaustion. I was on my knees waiting for the final whistle to go and I think if you’d lobbed me a duvet in the closing stages, I’d have crawled up and taken it. Five seconds later, Alex Waller grabbed me and said ‘we’ve done it’, looking at his face I felt a massive sense of pride for those boys that not only worked hard this season but in the six years I’ve been there.
What does it mean to the town?
It’s something Phil Dowson (director for rugby) has been big on, in terms of connecting with the community. A lot of things happen in the background that the club don’t shout about and have been really good for us; in terms of food banks for homeless people, boys getting their heads shaved to raise money for cancer awareness. A full Franklin’s Gardens is an amazing place and they get right behind us, so for us to give back to the community is great. I had no idea what to expect on the Sunday morning for the bus parade, it was one of the most spine-tingling things I’ve ever done. When you see the happiness which you’ve provided; for your friends, family, random strangers coming up to you with tears in their eyes thanking you for your efforts, it’s a pretty special feeling.
How has the mentality shifted from previous years?
PICTURES: Getty images
This group has found different ways to win. Over the past four or five years we’ve had to rely on our attack and the way Sam Vesty (attack coach) has got that purring has been phenomenal. We probably didn’t have a plan B if we’re brutally honest. If that wasn’t getting us a win, we didn’t have anything else. I can think of fixtures this year where our defence has won us the game. Lee Radford (defence coach) has created an excitement around our defence, so there’s been games where we haven’t produced the goods in attack or set piece but we’ve stopped the opposition from scoring and have won that way. We’ve kept teams out with our maul defence which has been a really big part of our game. Championship teams don’t just have one way of winning, they have multiple ways to find a result.
Props get the praise but tell us about the contributions from the whole pack at scrum time?
I would say it’s 70 per cent front row, 20 per cent second row and 10 per cent back row. An effective scrum is an eight-man activity, I don’t always feel when I watch other teams that the whole pack buy-in. If you look at the buy-in we got this season from Lewis Ludlam, Tom Pearson, Courtney Lawes, you can see them putting their 10 per cent in and that is the difference. Alex Coles and Alex Moon are two of the best scrummaging locks in the country. When we have our front row meetings you hear them talk about who they like behind them, so you know you’re getting that buy-in. You see the No.8 often just put his head up and when he does that the scrum starts marching backwards because you lose 100kgs.
Champion Saints: Courtney Lawes holds the Premiership trophy with Sam Graham.Using the scrum to attack from, with the opposition having eight guys tied down in a small space opens up a load of space elsewhere. We’ve focused on parts of the pitch that we’ll attack from at the scrum, you saw a try from a midfield scrum in the final that epitomises that. None of that works without an eight-man buy-in. The reason South Africa have one of the best scrums in the world is what their back five do, not what their front row does. Clearly their front row are class but what allows Ox (Nche) etc. to go and do their stuff is their back five which is the biggest in world rugby.
One of my first meetings I put a Formula One car on the screen and said this car has four slicks, they are big, wide and bald. Their job is to transfer the engine onto the track. Most front rows I work with are big, wide and bald. I said that if I can get you into a really good position to transfer power then the energy from the engine, which is the back five, can’t be wasted. Watch Trevor Davison, he takes his first step forward because of the confidence and pressure from Alex Moon behind him. Front row is the tyres and you bolt on a meaty engine behind it.
What do you say to people that want to get rid of scrums to speed things up and that it’s too boring?
It really frustrates me. The way it’s approached has a lot to answer for. We have one of the lowest reset rates in the league but we spend a considerable amount of time on our setup and balance. Up until the point the referee calls set, the contest is very limited so it really frustrates me when I watch rugby and you see teams standing up or unbalanced. It shows a lack of buy-in as an eight. I wouldn’t have free kicks at scrums, I would go straight to penalties. Any offence would be a penalty and as soon as that happens you can start clearing up people that are aren’t giving it the time it deserves.
It’s a unique part of our game, the two Premiership finalists got to the final off the back of it. When you’ve got two sets of eight clashing everyone enjoys it because when it’s working it’s brilliant. What people don’t like is the mucking around it takes to get there. You can’t tell me the scrum isn’t important because the last two World Cup finals have been decided by them. The revaluing of it is what is needed. As a game, scrum coaches, players and referees particularly, we need to come together and do a better job in coaching and officiating, so scrums become the spectacle that they are not the mess we occasionally see.
What about the referee’s perception, has that changed in recent years at scrum time?
Rugby full stop is one of the hardest games to referee. We get a brief most games and the referee will end by saying ‘if you go forward on both sides and give me a clear picture, then the job is a lot easier’. That tells me straightaway that there’s people using dark arts to bend the laws of the game. No wonder referees get it wrong. If your instruction during the week is if you lose your engagement, drop to the floor as the referee will reset it, that’s an offence but if referees are going to allow you to do that then it’s an easy way for packs to bide their time. We’re really lucky in the Premiership, I think they all value the importance of the scrum but like everybody else they get frustrated with scrums not working. Every scrum is a separate contest and I’d like referees to be clear on that and keep their checklist; balance and being square in the setup, stability through the shot and then forward dominance from both sides. I know exactly what I’m getting from Adam Leal, Christophe Ridley, Luke Pearce. It’s up to us to paint pictures that gives you legal dominance.
How impressed are you when you see mammoth props and locks going deep into contests?
In last year’s pre-season across our team, everyone increased in two to three kilos of weight and some real monsters amaze me in how they shift their weight. The game has excellent teams that sit behind the teams, Chris Kemp who looks after my front row does a phenomenal job in getting these guys powerful but with an ability to keep moving. It’s not unrealistic that Trevor Davison, Alex Waller, Manny Iyogun, Elliot Millar Mills, who are all over 125kgs (19st, 8lbs), play the game the way Saints want to play which is a lot faster than most. We felt against Bath that if we kept the game moving, going into that last 20 minutes we’d be in a better position because there’s a difference between our big players. You have to be in a situation where you can still do your close contact stuff but games get faster and forwards need to get to breakdowns, defend the edges and continue to work incredibly hard.
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