‘Be free – away you go, son': Scrum doctor's cure for out-of-sorts Tupou
'That's probably his greatest attribute scrum-wise, and even when he gets the ball, he can actually scoot for a big man. He can cover the ground.'
Cron has been impressed by the Force and Reds scrums against the Lions, despite two ultimately heavy defeats.
In Brisbane, the Lions' front row was consistently penalised at the scrum, including for angling in illegally.
Cron consulted closely with referees during the 2023 World Cup and has been impressed with officials' work on policing the dark arts of the scrum.
'I think you'll find even in Super Rugby and even on the [Reds] game last night, the referees are actually policing that [angling illegally] pretty rigidly,' Cron said.
'They may not get everyone, but I think they're looking for that [angling illegally] very much. They'd like things to be square. Once you're going forward, things can happen, it [the scrum] can roll one way or the other, but I think the referees are being very vigilant and hopefully they keep doing that.'
The Tests will be refereed by New Zealand's Ben O'Keeffe (first test), Italy's Andrea Piardi (second Test) and Georgia's Nika Amashukeli (third Test). Cron is confident the difference in scrum interpretation between Northern and Southern Hemisphere referees is a thing of the past.
'They're [referees] travelling all the time now, I think the only difference for them is time zone changes,' Cron said. 'I think it's pretty uniform, to be fair, within reason. I think it's pretty good at the top level.'
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'We're playing so many international games now, the refs know you inside and out. They're getting coached all the time, they're getting assessed. So I think in the old days maybe that was the case, [differences in interpretation], but I don't think it is now.'
Cron and Schmidt are locked in Wallabies camp in Newcastle, but will be watching Saturday night's match closely. The veteran coach is hoping that Tupou can make the most of his opportunity at Allianz Stadium.
'I just hope that he [Tupou] has a really good game on Saturday night, walks off having his family proud of his performance and comes off with his head held high ... that's what you hope for. But hope's one thing – you've got to go through it.'
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