Australia appoint Mario Ledesma to work with scrum
Tuesday 21 July 2015 12:00, UK
Australia have appointed Mario Ledesma in a bid to help the their much-maligned scrum before the World Cup begins in September.
Ledesma, who played 84 Tests for Argentina as a hooker, has begun working with the Wallabies on set pieces after spending time with the Waratahs through the Super Rugby season in the same capacity.
Australia’s scrum came in for more scrutiny after some shaky moments in their season-opening Rugby Championship win against South Africa in Brisbane last weekend.
Michael Cheika's men can expect another thorough examination in Mendoza this weekend against Argentina, also renowned for their scrummaging prowess.
Ledesma, who represented his country at four World Cups over a 15-year international career, does not believe the Australian scrum is their Achilles heel, but acknowledged that may be the perception from the outside.
"What we are trying to do here, and I think we did it really well during the Super Rugby, is change that perception everyone has of the Australian team," Ledesma said.
"If you look at most of the Australian teams throughout the (Super Rugby) competition, they were dominating in the scrums, especially the Queensland Reds.
"It's just showing everybody that we're there to scrum, and we want to contest.
"We want to dominate over there and we want the least amount of penalties possible and get the referee out of the picture."
Argentina's two tries against New Zealand in their 39-18 Rugby Championship defeat last weekend came from driving mauls following lineouts and Ledesma expected the Pumas to use that tactic and the scrum to attack Australia.
"That's the DNA of the Argentinian team and I think they won't be going away from that and they shouldn't," Ledesma said.
"But we will prepare for that and we're really excited about those kind of battles."
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Ledesma conceded the Australia scrum struggled early against the Springboks, but felt it improved as the match progressed and especially after the second half substitutions, with the side running out 24-20 winners.
"We didn't start really well, mainly because we weren't respecting what we planned during the week," Ledesma said.
"But when we started getting it right in the second half especially the last couple of scrums, we put them under pressure and had good outcomes."
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