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By Iain Payten
- From: The Daily Telegraph
- October 15, 2009 12:00AM
Laying down the law...Wallabies scrum coach Patricio Noriega rips into the forwards at training. Picture: Mark Evans Source: The Daily Telegraph
THIS must be why they call it Argy-bargy. Wallabies forwards were on the end of a passionate rev-up yesterday at training when scrum coach Patricio Noriega delivered a fiery spray to his pack ahead of the upcoming Spring tour.
What appeared to be a regular training session at Victoria Barracks turned spicy when Noriega called the forwards into a huddle after a strong scrum session.
The air turned blue as the former Argentine and Australian Test prop stood in the middle and gave a hand-smacking speech about the players' levels of mongrel (not enough) and how much pain should be inflicted (a lot) on New Zealand in Japan later this month.
Noriega's old-school speech showed that while the former Puma may have left Argentina in 1996, he hasn't lost any of his South American passion for forward dominance.
The players listened quietly, but after a disappointing winter and ahead of a demanding tour of Japan and the northern hemisphere the session was later welcomed as what the scrum doctor ordered.
"Pato (Noriega) brings a lot of enthusiasm and passion to the way he coaches. You'd like to hope that rubs off on some of the players," said Wallabies hooker Stephen Moore.
"It's been good working with him. It is going to be a big challenge with so many games in a short time. We are not going to have a hell of a lot of time to work on (scrummaging) or do huge volume, so it is important when we are there it is very intense. Pato is good at setting that tone. He brings that fairly blunt approach."
The gist of Noriega's red-blooded speech centred on giving 100 per cent effort every training session.
"That's the way we want to do it. We might only have 20 minutes to scrummage so you can't waste a minute and there's no time to warm into it. I think that's the big thing he is trying to drive home. It is certainly working," Moore said.
Scrummaging is almost a religion in Argentina. And the Wallabies are hoping that, with several new faces in the pack and a handful of utilities touring to provide maximum injury cover, Noriega's influence can help them jell quickly.
"What you saw today was an example of that. Scrummaging in those Latin countries is very much based on that passion and being one unit. Being really tight as an eight," Moore said.
"We can certainly take something out of that over the next few weeks."
Following in the footsteps of Enrique "Topo" Rodriguez, Noriega played 25 Tests for Argentina before emigrating to Australia and playing 24 Tests for the Wallabies between 1998 and 2003.
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/spo...-1225786784875
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