Coach backs Mika in scrum

Story by: WAYNE MARTIN - Nelson Mail - Photo by: Evan Barnes

Tasman Makos rugby coach Kieran Keane has downplayed suggestions by Canterbury front rower Wyatt Crockett that Tasman's tighthead prop Fai Mika isn't up to the mark.

Keane was reacting to comments made this week by Canterbury's loosehead prop following Canterbury's 25-27 ITM Cup loss to Tasman at Trafalgar Park on Saturday.

Crockett, who was twice penalised for dropping the scrum on Saturday, said he was tired of packing down against "guys that can't hold their side up".

"It's pretty frustrating when you're quite clearly dominant over your opposition and you get a couple of calls go against you. I was basically fighting as hard as I could to keep my opposition [Mika] off the ground on their ball and the referee [Nick Briant] saw it a different way," Crockett said.

Crockett said Canterbury's plan was to try to push the Makos off their own ball. "So why would I want to take it down when I'm trying to put pressure on them? Taking it down just takes the pressure right off them," he said.

"They had eight or nine resets on their ball and I think we had two, so that tells you that he [Mika] is just trying to bail out under pressure."

While Mika declined to comment, Keane said while he respected both Wyatt's ability and his right to an opinion, he wasn't concerned either about the competitiveness of Tasman's scrum or Mika's ability to do his job.

"Wyatt Crockett is a very good footballer and a very good scrum technician, but squealing after the event is never wise because scrummaging, from our point of view, is not about one person, it's about eight and it's about cohesion and it's about working on the same page," Keane said.

"I've got no problems with what [Crockett] wants to say. It's one man's opinion and we tend to focus on eight people doing their job and that's how we operate.

"Canterbury's scrum started to get the ascendancy [in the second half] but I think everything was fair and above board prior to that.

"In the first half I thought our scrum was good and in the second half we started to wilt a little bit and, at the end of the day after we made a couple of substitutions, our scrum got done a couple of times."

Mika transferred to Tasman from Southland this year and will play his fifth consecutive match for the Makos against his former Southland team-mates on Friday in Blenheim. Keane said he's had no problems with Mika's form to date.

"I think Fai's been a bit of a rock for us in the absence of Ben Franks and I'm very happy with the way he's gone and I'm really happy with how the other seven guys have backed him up, more importantly."

However, Crockett might have engendered more widespread support with his appeal to referees to get a better grasp of the scrum.

"If a referee doesn't really know what's happening he'll go with the attacking team, the team putting the ball in. My job as a loosehead is to put the opposition under pressure and when he favours the team putting the ball in, the call's going to go against me.

"There's a lot of guys coming through that are pretty inexperienced at this level and it takes time but we've got guys like Vinny Munro and Bryce Lawrence who've got a really good knowledge of scrummaging now. Chris Pollock is one who's got a lot better too.

"I know it's not an easy job to ref them [scrums] but it's frustrating when they're guessing and it costs teams points."

Meanwhile, three players will get their first starts of the season for Tasman in Blenheim on Friday.

Ben Coman will play at lock, with Afeleki Pelenise and Jack Umaga starting on the wings.

Tasman Makos: Robbie Malneek, Jack Umaga, Kade Poki, Tom Marshall, Afeleki Pelenise, James Marshall, Steve Alfeld, Joe Wheeler, Jonathan Poff, Glen Gregory, Ben Coman, Chris Jack (captain), Fai Mika, Francis Smith, Sam Prattley. Substitutes: Vernon Fredericks, Hamish Cochrane, Shane Christie, Tasi Luafutu, Kaide Whiting, Sione Holani, Blair Cook.