“Scrummage” is the end product of a blend of final year journalism portfolio and a will to help new rugby fans understand the positions of the game. Having played as a tight-head prop for my Universities 1st team it was great how much people wanted to talk to rugby players and yet when I attempted to explain what it was a prop did you could see the look of confusion slide across their face.
So what I did was create a series of video containing some of the biggest names in world rugby to help describe and explain the various positions of Rugby Union. Each episode covers aspects such as training, diet, injury prevention, the difference between two positions of the same name (such as the number 4 & 5 lock) and then end with who the professionals think is the best player in the world at their position.
The next episode in the series is concentrating on the centre point of the scrum, the hooker, (number 2) and to do this we have with us:
Dylan Hartley
Hooker, Northampton Saints & England
Dylan Hartley has grown into one of the best hookers in the northern hemisphere. His pairing with Northampton Saints teammates Courtney Lawes and Tom Wood means the England lineout is now a very formidable attacking weapon. He has also concentrated on improving his throwing technique and now looks a lot leaner and thicker set than in past years, perfect for the new scrummaging laws.
Andy Titterrell
Hooker, London Welsh, England & British and Irish Lions
Titterrell toured with the Lions in 2005 to New Zealand and from there he improved massively as a player turning his entire training programme on its head. He stopped eating all junk food and even walked away from alcohol, something he admited was hard especially being in the rugby environment.
Mike Mayhew
Hooker, London Irish
A very powerful scrummager, Mayhew was born in New Zealand and has gone on to make a great impact for the Exiles, adding a mass of power to the front row, although he does prefer to older scrummaging laws!
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