[su_dropcap style=”flat” size=”4″]M[/su_dropcap]aro Itoje is one of the best forwards in the sport of rugby union. This isn’t really up for debate. He’s shown for Saracens, England and the Lions that he matches up favourably with absolutely anyone and his qualities – aggression, technical excellence in the air, freaky athleticism, and an innate understanding of the tactical requirements needed for any situation. Simply put, he’s an incredibly intelligent, incredibly athletic, incredibly tactically astute player with elite instincts and grit. He is, in a lot of ways, the perfect package.
But.
A coach I worked with in Italy once of team selection that, while a square peg won’t fit in a round hole, an oval won’t either. His point was, just because something looks similar doesn’t mean that it’ll fit exactly the way you want it to. I was reminded of this when I was watching Saracens game against Bristol yesterday where they utilised Maro Itoje as a tighthead lock.
Why is this remarkable? Because typically, Itoje isn’t utilised in this very specific forward role as he is normally deployed as a 4/6D lock. I would argue that not only is “tighthead lock” a specific role all on its own, it’s the most important role in the back five of the pack. The last time that you heard this term thrown around was probably when all and sundry were snorting at the idea when Joe Schmidt namechecked it as a reason why he brought Jean Kleyn to the World Cup.
“We wanted to try to have a real balance to our second row. The one thing that we felt we would profit from was having a genuine tighthead second row that we didn’t really have,” said Schmidt, as quoted in the Irish Examiner.
John Ryan went onto give a tighthead prop’s perspective on the role in the same article.
“A lot of tightheads get credit for their scrummaging and a lot of being a tighthead is creating a platform so your monster second row can put his weight through you,” Ryan said yesterday.
“As monsters go, he’s pretty big. He’s a big lad. He’s a typical tighthead lock and if you give him the right platform to drive on you’re not going to go backwards.
“You add a flanker onto that, and it’s pretty powerful. He’s a pretty powerful guy and he’s exactly what it says on the tin. He’s a good lifter, good at the ruck, good at the maul, and he’s just an excellent scrummager.”
Tighthead locks have more weight and pressure coming through them because a tighthead prop usually has a hooker and a loosehead scrummaging on them directly. In that situation, you want a large, heavy lock with that low gear power stabilising and then driving through the tighthead prop.
Over the last few years, Saracens have typically paired Will Skelton and George Kruis as tighthead locks alongside Itoje during their Category 1 games in the Premiership and in Europe. It has been hugely effective. However, the salary cap scandal that relegated Saracens also forced a big reduction in their playing resources and that meant that Kruis and Skelton ended up leaving the club. Will Skelton and George Kruis had been contracted until the end of the 20/21 but both are now plying their trade away from Allianz Park. That leaves Maro Itoje as the central lock in Saracens roster for the foreseeable future and, in that environment, it’s not really a surprise to see McCall deploying Itoje – his most physically gifted second row – on the tighthead side alongside Hunter-Hill in yesterday’s game against Bristol.
The only other senior lock with the capacity to fill that role specifically would be the inexperienced Joel Kpoku who has the weight but is quite lacking in most of his set-piece work which is to be expected for a guy who only turned 21 back in June. So putting Callum Hunter-Hill on the loosehead side – a better and more explosive lineout jumper than Kpoku – and deploying Itoje as a tighthead lock alongside Rhodes on the flank as a half-lock was how McCall constructed his pack for Saturday’s game.
Looking at the teamsheet, it didn’t necessarily look like an issue.
1. Mako Vunipola, 2. Jamie George, 3. Vincent Koch
5. Callum Hunter-Hill, 4. Maro Itoje,
6. Michael Rhodes, 8.Billy Vunipola, 7.Jackson Wray
And in phase play, it wasn’t. Saracens still defended incredibly smartly and, sure, looked a little lighter in their ball carrying than they have in a few seasons but that could have been down to the wet conditions and an instruction to kick and chase more for territory.
The problems came at the set-piece, which is about as un-Saracens as it gets. Let’s have a look at the first scrum.
Keep an eye on Saracens tighthead side and watch for upward movement from Koch and then from Itoje. It’s very slight but it’s there. They are up against quite a big Bristol loosehead side – Jake Woolmore is 122kg at loosehead, Bryan Byrne is a good scrummaging hooker and Chris Vui is a 120kg Samoan international. This isn’t Vincent Koch’s first rodeo either, he’s a sizeable experienced tighthead scrummager in his own right but you can see the pressure starting to tell as the scrum develops. Remember, the Bristol loosehead wants to lift the Saracens tighthead side so Koch and Itoje have to keep low, forward pressure.
The stronger the forward pressure from the tighthead lock, the easier it is for the tighthead prop to oppress the hooker and loosehead attacking him. What you don’t want to see is the tighthead lock popping up out of his bind. Watch the Saracens tighthead side – and Itoje in particular – on this next scrum.
He’s coming up out of his bind way too easily there. I think it’s directly related to the pressure coming through on Koch from the second line of the scrum. Wray isn’t in a position to generate low, forward power. Itoje is lifting from almost immediately after the set and Koch is struggling to live with the upward pressure from Woolmore, Vui and Thomas who are all in straight, aligned positions.
This was a factor all through the game for them. When the tighthead can’t get a low lock on his side of the scrum, you’ll see this kind of pressure swarming through almost diagonally. Remember, Bristol had the massively experienced John Afoa and Dave Atwood attacking Saracens loosehead side so any movement up by Koch and Itoje would mean a low shove across the face of the scrum from Bristol.
Wray’s feet give you an idea of where the pressure is coming from here – Woolmore and Vui are driving Koch and Itoje up and then dragging them across as Afoa and Atwood latch away from Mako Vunipola and directly onto George.
This wasn’t just limited to Bristol’s put-in either. Check out these examples from the second half. Keep in mind that the Saracens tighthead side is now on the opposite side of the scrum. Watch for the same action – Bristol popping up the tighthead side and then attacking laterally across the scrum.
Each time, I’d question Itoje’s bind and the power coming through onto his tighthead. How often is he getting popped? How often is he taking the first step backwards? This scrummaging issue reduced the quality of Saracens launches and negated some of the impact of Billy Vunipola as a first and second phase weapon. The scrum isn’t just about the front row anymore – it never was – and the impact of the second row is usually only felt in its absence. In this case, the immediate post-Skelton/Kruis era.
There’s also the consideration of whether this role saps Itoje’s energy in other areas of the field where he has traditionally excelled.
