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Sports » rec.sport.rugby.union » Scrum Technique - the history of the "Bajadita"
| Scrum Technique - the history of the "Bajadita" [message #534397] |
Fr, 26 August 2005 18:41 |
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Bill, Paul, etc., here it goes (this is what I gathered from my own
recollection and from a few contacts), cheers,
Guiyo (san diego, california).
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The Bajadita (that's how it is known in Argentina) was invented
by Mr. Francisco "Catamarca" Ocampo. This was in 1967. He was a coach in
the Regatas de Bella Vista Club.
As it usually happens with new ideas, he initially faced criticism and
disbelief. In those days, the main argument against his ideas (based on
the laws of physics) was that it was "too complicated".
Finally, in 1969, one of the two top teams in Arg rugby, the San Isidro
Club (or SIC for short), brought him to the club to coach. In a few years
the SIC was virtually trashing every pack they would face. Then other
argie clubs followed. I learned the bajadita at age 12-13 (1976). To
exemplify the importance of the scrum in those days in Argentina, I recall
our coach telling us (we were 12 or 13 year old) "if you win the 1st 3
scrums you win the game". It was a psychological weapon in a way. The
bajadita was then taken to the Pumas. As Federico Mendez said, "to counter
the bigger, stronger packs from other countries with the best possible
technique". I recall, early 70's, watching 1st division rugby games and
BOTH teams using the bajadita simultaneously. Both packs had their props
with their noses just a few inches from the ground, the ball will go in,
and both packs would push try to lift the other pack. Going lower than
the other pack was crucial , with the backs of the 8 players defining a
perfect 2-dimensional plane.
There is a famous story about the power of the SIC's scrum and the
bajadita. The SIC club, as Argentinean champion, had the honor of playing
a SA team (I guess it was the Springboks touring Argentina, but not sure).
It was around 1972. Miguel "The English" Cutler was the SIC's captain and
kicker. Penalty for SIC at 10 yards from the SA ingoal. Cutler tells the
ref that he wants a scrum. The SIC pushes the SA pack 10 yards in a
massive shove. Scrum-try. Then, when Cutler was walking with the ref to
kick the conversion, he tells the ref "5 points is more than 3". (note: in
those days a try was worth 3 points). He converted btw.
After the international success of the Pumas' scrum (using the bajadita),
France adopted it (late 70's early 80's). Coaches Villegas and Perasso
(who made some minor modifications to the early ideas of Ocampo) were
hired by the French Union to travel to France and teach the bajadita. The
initial response of Villegas and Perasso was "to learn the bajadita, you
need the same 8 guys working together for 2 years". They finally went to
France and taught the basics. A year after France started to use the
bajadita in international tests.
Then, new laws, aimed to make the scrum safer, limited the power of the
bajadita. The Pumas adapted the bajadita to the new laws but then, more
new laws came (mainly for the 1st rowers) which makes the bajadita even
less effective. However, some basic principles of the bajadita still
remain in use, and have been studied using high tech equipment measuring
knee angles, coordinating even the breathing of the 8 men, etc. The
bajadita includes, typically, 3 big pushes which are coordinated to happen
when the other team relaxes. Variations of this are even more complicated,
e.g., rotations, counter-rotations, etc.
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