Former Wallaby prop Ben Darwin questions penalties awarded agianst Al Baxter

By Jon Geddes
July 21, 2009 Former Wallaby prop Ben Darwin has described the rash of scrum penalties awarded against Al Baxter in last Saturday's Bledisloe Cup clash as bewildering and extraordinarily frustrating.

South African referee Craig Joubert constantly found fault with the Australia front-rower's technique - claiming his bind was not high enough - which was a significant factor in the Wallabies' inability to find their rhythm.

"For that to happen to a guy who went through the entire Super 14 season and a northern hemisphere tour without issue on his bind is quite odd," Darwin said from Tokyo where he is now assistant coach of the NTT Communications rugby team.
"Some of the decisions are quite bewildering. Why hasn't he been pinged before? It is extraordinarily frustrating."

Darwin said it never mattered where a player bound in the scrum, the most important aspect being the position of his elbow.

Darwin said referees sometimes guessed why something happened in a scrum.
"With scrummaging it has to be blatant, it has to be obvious and if you are not sure, don't penalise it," he said.

Darwin said that 80 to 90 per cent of scrum collapses were not caused by anyone doing anything wrong: "They just collapse. It's hard to get 16 people standing on their feet at the same time."

But he said referees often got frustrated and felt they had to take action.

"If they want to do something, get the two packs closer together," Darwin said.
Darwin was a mentor to Baxter at the start of his career and has taken great pride in seeing him develop at the international level.

"I would have thought Al's scrummaging in the last few years has put him in the top five props in the world. So I don't see why they should be looking at him all of a sudden and say he is using a different type of technique," Darwin said.

"To be asked by a referee mid-game to change his technique when it hasn't been an issue prior is pretty difficult."

Darwin said Baxter was being judged on his past reputation for not being strong.
He said that after going through a difficult period, Baxter had rebuilt his game from the scrum out, which then enabled him to become more confident around the field.
"If you are technically good at scrummaging then you don't get tired." Darwin said.
"And because Al has become so efficient at scrum time the rest of his game has developed enormously."

http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,...-32464,00.html

Bret Harris | July 20, 2009
Article from: The Australian

WALLABIES tighthead prop Al Baxter concedes repeated scrum infringements contributed to the loss to the All Blacks in Auckland on Saturday night and it was something the team would need to address before the next Test against South Africa in Cape Town.

Baxter found himself offside with South African referee Craig Joubert for illegal binding.

As a result, the Wallabies were unable to use the scrum as an attacking platform.

"It certainly hurt momentum at certain times," Baxter said. "I guess as much as any penalty has a negative impact on the team's play."

Baxter said Joubert told him he was not binding high enough in the scrum.

"He (Joubert) was saying 'I need your bind higher on the opposition'," Baxter said.

"That's the communication I was getting. There was obviously a disconnect between what I thought I was doing and what was happening.

"He was saying my bind was in the wrong spot. It wasn't high enough on the body."

Asked whether the illegal bind was something he had been penalised for in the past, Baxter said: "Not recently."

Baxter had been regarded as a poor scrummager in the past, but he has improved his technique over the past few years.

"Yes and no," Baxter said when asked if he agreed with the suggestion he was still being penalised for his previous reputation.

"I think sometimes these things happen in games. You have to work out how best it doesn't happen again.

"We'll go back and check things out and see what we can change to make sure it doesn't happen again.

"We'll check out the vision, see what's happening and work on a few things to make sure it doesn't happen again."

Baxter, who was replaced by Ben Alexander in the 72nd minute, said he had not had any problems with Joubert in the past.

"He is a top level referee. He's been there plenty of times before. It's something we will have to look at and make sure we get it sorted out.

"It's always been pretty good. These things happen where he was interpreting something in a certain way and we'll just have to make sure it doesn't get interpreted that way again.

"It's one of those things. You play it out and do what you can and go from there."

The All Blacks have dominated the scrum against the Wallabies for several years and things won't get any easier when the Australians lock horns with the Springboks in three week's time.

"They (the All Blacks) are certainly an excellent scrum, but there are a lot of very fine scrums around the world," Baxter said.

"The South Africans have a very fine scrum. No matter who we play in the Tri-Nations, it's tough in the scrum.

"Both teams have different strengths and different weaknesses."

The Wallabies also experienced problems at the breakdown where New Zealand committed more numbers and were able to counter-ruck.

"First and foremost we have to target better at the breakdown," Baxter said.

"We have to get them away from the breakdown.

"They were effective at being able to get on the ground and slow the ball down. We have to target more effectively in the game."

Baxter said the Wallabies felt it was the game that got away after they led 13-3 at one stage in the first half and bombed at least one certain try.

"We feel really disappointed because we feel we gifted them the game," Baxter said.

"We got away to the start we wanted to, we were playing how we wanted to and then through penalties and ill discipline and a lack of continuity we felt like we gave them the game or let them back into it.

"They got their tails up and unfortunately we weren't able to claw back into it."

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...015651,00.html