By Tim Cronin

Australia should have a fantastic front row.

It’s no secret they are a sports mad nation, and the volume of their population who take part in sport obviously contributes to the fantastic global success they experience in any number of events. And it’s no wonder that people love to get outside and run around – the environment is simply conducive to playing sport.

So, with high participation levels and a country which is used to competing, and indeed achieving excellence, I can’t figure out why the Wallabies struggle year after year to get a decent front row together.

Three codes vie furiously for athletes during the winter months in Australia, with Aussie Rules and Rugby League undoubtedly capturing more of the market than their Rugby Union counterparts. But, while I can understand Union losing lean, fast guys or 6-foot tall muscular players to the other codes, I can’t understand where all the squat, strong guys are going.

Rugby League scrums aren’t really scrums, and Rugby League props aren’t really props, at least not in the sense that we understand them in Union terms. Players move around positionally a lot more in Rugby League, and loose-forwards (second-rowers and locks) often end their careers in the front row. As long as you run hard and can get your side on the front foot, you can play as a prop in Rugby League. League props are traditionally taller, and potentially a bit leaner, than Union props, and handle the ball more often.

So where are all the ‘fatties’ ending up?

Aussie Rules isn’t taking them. They might be nabbing some of the locks, and they’re definitely taking the utility backs, but they’re certainly not in the market for a squat, 5’10, 110kg front rower.

No offence to front-rowers, but it’s a position which is accessible to a whole branch of athletes who otherwise may not find a suitable sport. A prop’s focus is on pushing, lifting and driving. Even though the modern game requires players to be more diverse and have wider skillsets, a prop can still get away with having relatively poor ball skills, being a little slower than his team-mates, or being a little less conditioned.

And I’m sure that Australia, a nation of 22 Million people, has their fair share of sports-minded people with these genetics. But whether the ARU is missing the boat when these budding props are in their formative years, or are losing them at a later stage, the fact remains that Australia have never truly had a dominant scrum, and at times have been forced to field a pitiful one.

Fans of Australian Rugby will shudder at the memory of a scrum annihilated by the English at Twickenham, while the fact that Matt Dunning managed to amass 29 Test caps is testament to a serious lack of depth in the front-row. In New Zealand, South Africa, England or France Dunning would have been considered a provincial player at best, yet for several years he was a mainstay of the Wallabies side.

I’m not sure what the problem is, and I’ve no idea what the solution would be. But one thing is for sure, the ARU are doing something wrong. The front-row is far and away the position where they have least competition from the other main codes, and should be the position where they are consistently strong. Instead it is a regular weakness, and one which will continue to hinder their ability to regain their status on the top of rugby’s international standings.

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