Fogarty sets three-point forwards’ plan to halt France

John Fogarty described his emotions about the scrum penalty decisions made by Wayne Barnes as “very disappointed” rather than angry, saying feeling the latter was not going to help the Irish cause.

PLAN IN PLACE: Ireland Scrum Coach John Fogarty has a plan in place to combat the French scrum. Pic: ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan

Ireland’s front-row forwards have been urged to embrace the opportunity to deliver a strong platform at scrum time when the Guinness Six Nations campaign gets underway against France in Marseille on Friday night.

There are so many elements of last October’s World Cup quarter-final defeat to New Zealand which linger in the memories of Ireland supporters, players and coaches but the three scrum penalties conceded to the All Blacks pack are the ones that hurt the most for John Fogarty.

Ireland’s scrum coach yesterday laid out his three-point plan for his forwards to follow in order to combat a heavyweight French scrummaging unit at Stade Velodrome, paint the right pictures for match referee Karl Dickson and restore confidence in his side’s set-piece after a night at Stade de France 16 weeks ago that disappointed Fogarty so deeply.

Aware there are reputations to restore this weekend, the former hooker will today oversee a live scrummaging session at Ireland’s preparation camp on Portugal’s Algarve which he was expecting to be “spicy” as likely starting front rowers Andrew Porter, Dan Sheehan and Tadhg Furlong go head to head with Cian Healy, Ronan Kelleher and Finlay Bealham in rotation with Jeremy Loughman, Tom Stewart and Tom O’Toole as well as uncapped training panellists Oli Jager.

"I think that's something we need to be tidy with, 100 per cent,” Fogarty said.

"Before we enter scrum, you've got someone like (France tighthead) Uini Atonio, he's been around the block, he will over-lean or he will fade a fraction and he can do that through his back. It’s tricky.

"It's a tough job for Karl Dickson. Big crowd, big occasion. And this part of the game needs to work and we're going to be working with officials to make sure we're showing the best possible pictures. That's number one.

“Second thing for us is after a set, the game changes slightly and we've been trying to develop nice feel in what we're doing so that we can adjust on the move and not just let it fall around.

"You saw that bit of a turn in that New Zealand match. So, we're going to take those learnings, so that the pictures, the images were showing to referees; but also that feel to make sure that we're not letting weight splay left or right, we're controlling our weight in the right areas.

"The third thing would probably be mentality. Being able to come back to neutral and be able to find each other when we need to. So we can hear, listen and talk to each other and we're back to our plan, our way. Nice picture,” the scrum coach added with a clap for emphasis.

"It's really important the boys take those pieces with them in an arena like Marseille against a team like France but what an opportunity. It's unbelievably exciting for us.

"The players, they should be nice and clear in their heads now. They've got to go and make it happen. And that's the challenge for them now.

“We have one more training session, which should be spicy tomorrow. Then it's about recuperating, resting, making sure we're nice and ready to deliver.

"That's international rugby. Small space time. Go and go and make it happen, boys.

"Andy says it the whole time. Go out there and get it.” 

Fogarty described his emotions about the scrum penalty decisions made by Wayne Barnes as “very disappointed” rather than angry, saying feeling the latter was not going to help the Irish cause.

"There's moments when you're pissed off, for sure but it's quickly pushed aside because that's a thought it's almost a selfish thing to be to be thinking, you know, we've got it we've got to get some clarity on what's happening and we've got to be able to communicate it clearly.

"We've got to be able to listen, take in information, and we got to go and make it happen.

"So, yeah, you're disappointed in some of the stuff. But you've got to fucking learn, and you've got to get better and you've got to go out and show it.

"What an opportunity we have now to show this on Friday night. Looking forward to it."

Fogarty also spoke of how impressed he had been with 6ft 4ins, 19st-plus Jager, the former Crusaders tighthead who returned to Ireland in November to join Munster. The 28-year-old is outside the 34-man Six Nations squad but a Test debut does not seem too far away if the scrum coach’s praise is any indication.

"Size is something that's very important. We know we're going against Uini Atonio and Taofifenua and they're enormous men.

"Size is one thing, but Oli has played with a really well coached club and he's got some really, really good habits, particularly at scrum-time.

"He's a very, very square scrummager, he has a really nice feel in what he's doing. He's some really good habits around set piece that that will add to this group. And that's what I'm seeing and that's what we want we want players to be able to come in and add and he's come in and added. He's been excellent.”