Carriza on the Bajada scrum

Sport24 asked: Tell us about Argentina’s famed Bajada technique at scrum time and why you believe an experienced Springbok pack struggled to live with their hosts at the set-phase?

Manuel Carizza: The literal translation of Bajada from Spanish to English means “to go low.” I believe that the relatively new scrum laws favour this particular technique, because after the hit there is a moment to get the scrum stable and then the Pumas pack push together and with pressure. In my opinion, scrummaging as a collective eight-man unit improves the timing and force of the impact.

They also spoke of a breathing technique they use and they seem to have a call to unite the scrum before the engage.

The Argies scrum has come back into its own after being less dominant than in the past over the past two seasons. They seem to have found a rock in their tighthead and the lad that was meant to post on this site is a monster of a lock  

In years gone by Argentina were scary when it came to scrum time.

That this generation of Los Pumas  front row forwards heading into the inaugural Rugby Championship speaks of the need to rediscover the old strength and respect in the scrum is a clear indication they are admitting their scrum in the past few years has not been the feared weapon it once was.

"For us the scrum is very important," Pumas coach Santiago Phelan said.

"We have to keep on working hard on that aspect of our game ... we can't say we are the best.

"We are still working hard to try and improve our scrum a lot.

"It is nice that other coaches think Argentina has a strong scrum, but in reality we know we still need to improve that aspect of our game and we are working very hard for that to be the best part of the Argentinian team."

So what is the famous Bajada (Puma scrum)?

The most obvious characteristic of the Bajada is that second row forwards bind with their external arms around the prop's hip rather than between their legs.

But one defining characteristic of the method is that all the power is directed into the hooker, in other words they scrum along an imaginary arrow drawn pointing inwards from either side of the No.8, which means all the power is directed towards the hooker.

The other defining characteristic is the 'empuje coordinado' or 'coordinated push'.

The scrumhalf gives a three part call after the 'engage'. On 'pressure' all members of the pack tighten their binds and fill their lungs with air. On the call 'one' everyone sinks; the legs at this point should be at 90 degrees. On 'two' the pack comes straight forward while violently expelling the air from their lungs. A key note is that nobody moves their feet until forward momentum is established. If the first drive is insufficient the scrumhalf begins the call again and the opposing pack is usually caught off guard and pushed back.

We were not the first ones who faced it. We won't be the last. Hopefully, for the ABs and Aus, they have taken note and are working on a counter. Otherwise...............

I'm guessing the old "engage" where you had a power hit negated a lot of this. When you are struggling to keep straight or hold your position, it's hard to deliver this one pulse it seemed to me the Bargies were delivering.

I find it very interesting that nobody moves their feet until momentum is delivered. If you look at the Bok scrum at the critical moment  several feet were probably in the air trying to go forward. If we simply set our guys with their feet well dug in, their superior weight set forward....maybe we could have negated this.

It looks like we set too high, sh uffled too much and thought the scrums were over too soon. All things that should have been anticipated.