Rugby: ABs have front row seats at scrum time

The All Blacks now possess arguably the world's best scrum. Photo / Richard Robinson

Like A faithful retriever panting by the fire, the All Black scrum has become heart-warmingly reliable. It wasn't always so, although that is increasingly hard to remember.

Back in 2003, the All Blacks went to the World Cup with a set-piece that was at best adequate. It scared no one; it crushed no one; and was in no danger of ever being considered a core part of the arsenal.

The mentality of that period was to view scrums as a means of restarting the game. The mindset has changed and so have the salient facts - the All Blacks have become one of, if not the best, scrummaging side in world rugby. The scrum is there to inflict actual and psychological damage - to build a dominant platform from which the backs can work.

By the end of this series against Ireland, the gulf in scrummaging ability will have become apparent.

Maybe 10 years ago, it wouldn't have mattered to the All Blacks what the world thought of their scrummaging.

It was a means to an end and as long as the ball went in and came out, job done.

The tight five back then weren't necessarily there to prove their worth as scrummagers - many were picked on the strength of their ball carrying, athleticism and mobility. Graham Henry arrived in 2004 and changed all that, believing there was no way the All Blacks could improve their winning ratio if they didn't have a rock-solid scrum.

These days, there is almost relief among the big units when they leave behind Super Rugby and get into test football.

There was an obvious buoyancy in the step of Owen Franks, Andrew Hore and Tony Woodcock leading into last night's opener - all three genuinely loving the thought of the scrummaging combat that lay ahead.

Franks was in especially good spirits as he'd watched the Scots play Australia on Tuesday night, a game so ugly only a tighthead prop could love it.

"It was my type of game," says Franks. "I definitely like the gritty games when it gets down to a lot of defence and who can keep getting up and as we saw with that game [in Newcastle] it came down to a scrum. There are definitely two sides to rugby and I definitely enjoy that other side."

Some of Franks' predecessors may not have shared that love of unglamorous rugby. But his tight five colleagues of 2012 have a clear understanding that they are to gain dominance in the set-piece.

They will have no trouble leaving behind the Super Rugby bonus-point culture and switching into test mode. Scrums are not an entree, they are the main course and the biggest change in the All Blacks since 2004 has been their desire to build this side of their game.

"For us tight five boys, the game doesn't change much [from Super Rugby to tests]," says hooker Hore.

"It's probably easier for us if it is tight and we can get in there and do the stuff that we pride ourselves on.

"That is something the All Blacks are always trying to do - get that dominance up front but it is not as easy to do as it can be some days."

Ireland are in many ways the ideal opponent to kick off the season.

They are a side that wants to scrummage; they want the set-piece to be a key battleground but haven't necessarily got the personnel to fulfil their ambition.

After crushing the Wallabies at Eden Park during the World Cup, they regressed as a scrummaging unit during the Six Nations. They took a pounding against England in the final round and advertised for a scrum coach the next day.

That post was filled by former All Black prop Greg Feek and the fact they went for a New Zealander is perhaps significant. There are plenty of French, Argentinian and English scrum coaches around the world, but maybe now there is a growing belief that the global leader is New Zealand.

"I'd say we are there or thereabouts - we are normally up there and I'd like to say we are maybe top three when things are going well," says Hore.

"But we have got to get a lot of things sorted out. With big Brad Thorn being away, a lot of people underestimate how much a big grunty tight lock does for a scrum.

"We try to be the best in the world at everything we do. If we can get there and be No 1, it would be pretty good."