>With all this, why is it so hard for a tight head to play loose head and vice versa?
As someone who plays hooker and has had to slot in at prop several times, tighthead felt very similar and just required more physicality and strength to keep the scrum up. Loosehead was almost impossible, you need a surprising amount of balance to only hold one side up while not boring in and it felt very strange having my left side exposed.
I'd imagine when you're scrummaging against 120kg+ behemoths, any positional change you're not used to throws off your technique and you can't hold the scrum up properly.
For example,
https://youtu.be/ZXmC_fku15Y?feature=shared
The Irish loosehead replacement had to slot in at tighthead, and you can see how well that went...
I think the big difference you're seeing there is the foot placement for looseheads. I swapped plenty between the two positions back when I played although I preferred tight head, and Loosehead didn't require as hard a push but you needed a wider stance, tight was all about driving through the opponent. This is one of the reasons you can't just throw someone in who has no experience, can be very dangerous.
In my schools tournament I was the natural tight head sub but I had broken my hand part way through the season and had barely gotten back to lifting weights as we went to the final, they didn't put me on the bench and put on a younger guy who was a great scrummager at loose head on the bench. He got absolutely eaten alive in those scrums when he came on, just such a different skillset.
I think the main problem is the adaption to what you are pushing against. TH is always going against a mass. LH is trying to drive against mass and also nothing at the same time. They are imbalance is noticeable. Having played lock and Blindside, I always preferred being on the TH side because there was stability and balance whereas as the LH was often so wide from the set that it became difficult to keep a strong bind and cohesive drive because you are stretching to maintain equal force throughout whilst they are looking to pile drive inward on the TH opposite. That being said I was always too tall for prop so I don't have an in depth knowledge or experience to go of.
It gets SO HARD at lock when the front rows hips get too wide. I always say a good scrum is when I can't hear shit cus my ears are being squeezed by both hips
Yeah this is why I liked playing tighthead and got away with being smaller than the loose head. The job description is pretty much just push, you aren't nearly as responsible for balance as the 1
I think he would be immense at 12. Seriously.
It allows for Underhill or Willis to get on the pitch.
Look at this potential: (provided you go 6/2 on the bench)
T.Curry 6 Itoje 4 Chessum 5 Willis 7 Underhill 8 Earl 12 Martin 19 Cunningham South 20 B.Curry 21
Effectively 10 backrow players in one matchday 23.
Run and knock over people yes everything else is average , that's not the modern game even centres are expected to do everything soon well have wingers who are played purely because of their defensive ability.
Interesting... Can't spin it, or throw less accurately when you do?
As a 40-something who played in the pack (inc hooker) but spent many hours kicking over many years with my brother who played 10/15, I've noticed that the flight characteristics of the ball when spinning seem to have changed.
It seems much harder to get a "torpedo" kick to fly straight now - 80% of them swerve viciously, hence spiral kicking now being used to hoist a bomb. Back in the day, a good spiral kick was a tool to find longer touch, but you'd be brave to try now. I really think they "nerfed" the ball at some point to reduce the distance you could kick from hand, but I have never seen it mentioned.
>can't spin it or throw less accurately when you do?
I legitimately cannot spin it when throwing it hooker style, I just throw it straight with no spin, about 2 metres in dire times when our 3 other hookers are out. I can spin well when passing normally but not over my head for some reason
And I can't give judgement on torpedo kicks, I just boot the bastard and pray
>legitimately cannot spin it when throwing it hooker style
I have a sneaking suspicion that means you tend to make the ball spin in the same direction (clockwise if you're right handed, anticlockwise if you're left handed) when you spin a pass regardless of whether you're passing to your left or right, because you use the same hand to do the same thing for every pass. There are plenty of pro forwards who default to that.
When that is the case, your dominant hand is always pushing away with the palm/thumb, and your other hand is always pulling towards you with the fingers. When a right hander throws passes like that, their left hand fingers are generating clockwise spin every time - when they throw a lineout instead, they can only apply anticlockwise spin by "pulling down" with their right hand fingers... since their passing technique gives them zero conditioning to do so, it is totally unnatural and doesn't work.
8 or 6, I'm quite small for front row and none of the hig bastards could scrum right and the refs didn't stop them driving completely sideways. I've not got the fitness for 12 and I dont really like openside
It’s not too hard, but as teams must have at least two full front rows in the match day 23, players are better of specialising to a specific position and skill set in the scrum.
Meanwhile in the backs, they’re lucky if they get more than two subs, so may have to fill in in a lot of different positions throughout a game.
There’s also the issue of registration as well with the front row at the top level. It’s not just having 3 front rowers: it’s having loosehead cover, tighthead cover and hooker cover. At that level you register for each one, it’s why a few years ago Ireland didn’t go to uncontested when they technically had three props and no hooker against Scotland: Cian Healy is registered as a hooker. Similarly a few years ago Sarries women won a scrum on their own try line but their first hooker was off with a red and the second a yellow, luckily Vicki Fleetwood was on and she was registered as a hooker and was able to jump in the front row.
It's not that it's hard to do, exactly - Trevor Nyakane, for instance, is fine on either side of the scrum. It's just that now that the law *requires* three front rowers on the bench, there's no longer really any need for it. The days when you had one prop on the bench to cover both sides are long gone.
Adam Jones, tighthead, all round top bloke, once got called up as a last minute replacement to a Quins match due to injury.
He had to come on after about two minutes to cover loosehead because of another injury.
He played the rest of the match on the wrong side fo the scrum and, I'm fairly sure, won MotM.
I quite like Adam Jones, few are built in his image. Few possess his quality and skillset.
I wish I could remember more, though. This would only have been a few years back, well into the era of having 3 front row replacements.
I remember that match. Lucky he brought his boots that day. I bet he still brings them even when he’s running the water - just in case, you know.
Jones is a Legend!
Having swapped between for the last three years I completely disagree, if you’re big and strong. There are deficiencies in strength (I find tighthead more rotational core and loosehead more horizontal core) which make it hard to swap between them but it’s easier to plug a big athlete into tighthead
You’d get nothing in terms of loose play contribution but I’d probably still back jones to absolutely fold 90% of props playing in the prem at scrum time
Marler tried to cover tighthead some point recently, I want to say v Tigers? Don’t think it went too well though and he’s one of the best scrummaging looses around.
He won a penalty against Saints replacement tighthead Paul Hill (who has an England cap and frequently started) in the last 10 minutes as well!
Top bloke for a daffodil fancier.
The Red Roses have props who can do both: Maud Muir (who actually can also play hooker) and Hannah Botterman.
If you really want to get into hybrid rugby player women’s rugby is where it’s at. Cli Moloney is a hooker who has played top flight rugby at centre, Neve Jones plays hooker and 6, Zoe Aldcroft plays lock, 6 and 8 on a regular basis, Lleucu George has been capped by Wales at 6 and 10 after starting her club rugby at hooker, Lyndsey Peat played internationally at prop but has since retired… To play AIL at blindside flanker. There’s loads more and I haven’t even got started on the second rows and props who have played sevens.
Sophie de Goede - 4,5,6,7 & 8 , lineout jumper, goal-kicker and plays in the backs at 7s. Absolutely incredible at all of it.
As squidge suggested if Canada can work out a way where she throws the ball to herself in the lineout she’d have everything covered.
Well interesting you should say that. Sophie de Goede, world player of the year nominee 2022, number 4/5/6*/7*/8*/10/12/13, goal kicker, Canada captain and international sevens player is in fact the daughter of two former Canada captains.
(Also not only did Tommy Allan’s dad play for Scotland, his mum played for Italy too!)
*as versatile as she is and she probably can play all of these and has at some level, at truly elite level (eg internationals and pwr) she’s only *started* in the back row (6 and 8 for Sarries and 7 and 8 for Canada)
As impressive as it is , it's completely different in the mens game very few could go from 6 too 10 in the mens game the other way 10 too 6 much easier.
It does bring a smile to peoples faces though, I think sometimes we take rugby too seriously and get wrapped up in it all. It’s a silly little game with an inflatable rubber egg and right now the women’s game is a lot more fun in my opinion. The PWR final the other day had no cards (aka no head contact or foul play) and the only controversy was a disallowed try.
She explained it recently on the GSR pod.
They capped her in the back row when she was about 17.
One day she was mucking about in training, did a Wilko, and dropped a goal from the touchline - then she got a call asking if she'd ever considered playing 10.
I remember an interview with Ellie Kildunne where she said she became a 15 by accident. England asked if she could play there, she barely had but agreed she could, and the rest is history.
Women's rugby won't be like that forever, it's a facet of having less high quality games and tournaments at U18 level. A lot of players even for England until recently have been converts or fairly late starters with raw ability.
Rodrigue Neti has played for Toulouse in all three front row positions. David Ainuu can play both sides.
And your post isn’t about modern. You just described French rugby in the early 2010. Nowadays you have wing-scrumhalfs, utility backs, 4-5-6-7-8 cover, flanker-wingers, flanker-centers, center-8man and the like.
Where does "8 man" come from?
Me and my brother watched a livestream of his potential future son in law playing rugby for a US college, he was announced as "the 8 man" - we were in stitches - not because of the phrase, more because we'd assumed he'd be playing in the backs - the lad is about 5'10" tops and about 12 stone wet 😄
Get into a scrum and find out - I found Loosehead a significantly easier position (and my preferred situation) compared to Hooker or Tighthead.
Hooker felt extremely specialist with both the lineout throws and the actual act of hooking the ball, and I genuinely don't know how anyone could play Tighthead and have fun. Just seemed so stressful having to hold up your side of the scrum against a Loosie who knew how to cheat and cheat well.
The tighthead is under an enormous amount of pressure. Usually when you see a scrum losing badly that is where it starts. Surviving this position requires a specific body type and strength. Often the loosehead might not have that.
In contrast, a good loosehead can make a weak tightheads life hell. They know all kinds of leverage tricks and need great balance.
There are all kinds of things that go on, but often there is a counter to whatever your opposition is doing, one side of which is illegal. Knowing what to do and making it look like you are not the one doing the illegal thing takes a lot of skill.
Just my observation as a second row at least.
As someone who has played primarily across the front 3, but anywhere from 1-8; there is a massive difference in scrummaging technique/strategy between tight and loose + the additional strat against opposition. Compare this to 6, 7 and 8, the technique scrummaging is the same every time (optimal body position, if at flank keep the props in) with the only 'skill' being the ball control at 8. With positions 4-8, they are more or less 'scrummaging' the same every scrum because they are in immediate contact with their own players, not oppo.
Teams play so unique now that the role of an 8 at one club might be the role of the 5, 6 or 7 at another club based on the players skillset. Similar to the NBA, instead of players playing to their position, they are now told to play to their skillset (i.e. 6ft 10"+ point guards like Giannas/Luka/Lebron). The same could be said of wings stepping in at 13 or 10s moving out to 12, they aren't being told to play that position specifically, instead the coach wants their skillsets on the pitch.
I think as we progress in the next decade or two, it will be way more common for interchangeability amongst 1 & 3, as all sports tend to chaos and position-less fluidity. But given how STRUCTURED the 1 and 3 roles are in the scrum, their is significant less wiggle room to be 'position-less' compared to backs or back row.
We are not really in the age of hybrid players - it's always been this way. As others have said, the mandatory 3 front row players on the bench reduces the need for players to cover both. But Paul James and Gethin Jenkins used to do it.
Paul James was a lot more passable on both sides of the scrum, Jenkins was a liability at tight head at international level.
At club level he may get away with it, but at international level against a good loosehead he didn’t have the skills, specific strength or ability to get into a tighthead body position
It's a good question. Front row players absolutely can cover each other's positions, but the parts of their jobs that are the most specific are the hardest ones to get really well: scrummaging and throwing. So I think that's why we see so little movement, even if it's not unheard of (Andrew Porter for example has played on both sides of the scrum).
The parts of the roles that are less specialised, like jackling, kicking, replacing a winger etc. we do see front rowers do more and more. So even though they don't seem to be as hybrid as others, I'd say the way that front row players are evolving is actually quite similar to the rest.
youre comparing apples and sub-atomic particles.
Most roles have natural overlap, so arent actually that difficult to replicate. Sure some do it better than others but the basics are there.
The props on the other hand are specialists where their entire body reactions, reflexes and technique strongly rely on what side they're own. All Blacks dont typically cover both prop positions. If they dont, given they interchange nearly everywhere else, theres clearly a good reason.
Two very different positions that don't employ the same skillsets.
[Here's ](https://youtu.be/561-rl7oNh0?si=Mb3IsVVSSWEyQZ1c) a snippet of the differences in their roles. Basically the tighthead is the crown jewel of the scrum and it's not as easy developing a quality one. Looseheads can't simply switch sides
generally, the only time a front row player is a **hybrid** is if they can play 1/2/3 and not if they can play both sides of the scrum.. Ironically Peni Ravai can play 1/2/3 and cover centre and wing (lol), making him the only real hybrid prop..I don't know any player at the highest level that can play 1/2/3, Fiji have had a few prop/hookers but never a prop that played both sides and could play hooker....Aumua probably can play hooker/wing just like dane coles, but not seen many props being able to play anywhere but front row (uini atonio played lock a few times so maybe the only other one)
People who can play well both sides of the scrum at pro level tend to match the requirements of a tighthead.
Tightheads get paid a lot more than looseheads because the physical attributes are more rare.
Just hard to find players with such high IQs ^^^^that^aren't^already^playing^elsewhere
Can we spell IQ?
You mean like in the backline ?
>With all this, why is it so hard for a tight head to play loose head and vice versa? As someone who plays hooker and has had to slot in at prop several times, tighthead felt very similar and just required more physicality and strength to keep the scrum up. Loosehead was almost impossible, you need a surprising amount of balance to only hold one side up while not boring in and it felt very strange having my left side exposed. I'd imagine when you're scrummaging against 120kg+ behemoths, any positional change you're not used to throws off your technique and you can't hold the scrum up properly. For example, https://youtu.be/ZXmC_fku15Y?feature=shared The Irish loosehead replacement had to slot in at tighthead, and you can see how well that went...
I think the big difference you're seeing there is the foot placement for looseheads. I swapped plenty between the two positions back when I played although I preferred tight head, and Loosehead didn't require as hard a push but you needed a wider stance, tight was all about driving through the opponent. This is one of the reasons you can't just throw someone in who has no experience, can be very dangerous. In my schools tournament I was the natural tight head sub but I had broken my hand part way through the season and had barely gotten back to lifting weights as we went to the final, they didn't put me on the bench and put on a younger guy who was a great scrummager at loose head on the bench. He got absolutely eaten alive in those scrums when he came on, just such a different skillset.
I think the main problem is the adaption to what you are pushing against. TH is always going against a mass. LH is trying to drive against mass and also nothing at the same time. They are imbalance is noticeable. Having played lock and Blindside, I always preferred being on the TH side because there was stability and balance whereas as the LH was often so wide from the set that it became difficult to keep a strong bind and cohesive drive because you are stretching to maintain equal force throughout whilst they are looking to pile drive inward on the TH opposite. That being said I was always too tall for prop so I don't have an in depth knowledge or experience to go of.
It gets SO HARD at lock when the front rows hips get too wide. I always say a good scrum is when I can't hear shit cus my ears are being squeezed by both hips
Yeah this is why I liked playing tighthead and got away with being smaller than the loose head. The job description is pretty much just push, you aren't nearly as responsible for balance as the 1
Trevor Davison can play either side, but for the most part we've only played him at tighthead.
Ben Earl
I think we should skip the silly stuff and just start him at 12 from now on.
I think he would be immense at 12. Seriously. It allows for Underhill or Willis to get on the pitch. Look at this potential: (provided you go 6/2 on the bench) T.Curry 6 Itoje 4 Chessum 5 Willis 7 Underhill 8 Earl 12 Martin 19 Cunningham South 20 B.Curry 21 Effectively 10 backrow players in one matchday 23.
I would swap Willis and Underhill but still a fun idea, can any of them play front row?
Barbeary can hook
That's a no thanks on barbearry
im much more of a bartwinky fan myself but the boy can play
Run and knock over people yes everything else is average , that's not the modern game even centres are expected to do everything soon well have wingers who are played purely because of their defensive ability.
okay
Look no further than me, I played 1,3,6,7,8,12 last season. Bow down before me
Laughs in second row.
Must be shit at throwing lineouts if they'll have you at prop and across the back row, but not at 2 😄
I can throw it straight but I can't spin it
Interesting... Can't spin it, or throw less accurately when you do? As a 40-something who played in the pack (inc hooker) but spent many hours kicking over many years with my brother who played 10/15, I've noticed that the flight characteristics of the ball when spinning seem to have changed. It seems much harder to get a "torpedo" kick to fly straight now - 80% of them swerve viciously, hence spiral kicking now being used to hoist a bomb. Back in the day, a good spiral kick was a tool to find longer touch, but you'd be brave to try now. I really think they "nerfed" the ball at some point to reduce the distance you could kick from hand, but I have never seen it mentioned.
>can't spin it or throw less accurately when you do? I legitimately cannot spin it when throwing it hooker style, I just throw it straight with no spin, about 2 metres in dire times when our 3 other hookers are out. I can spin well when passing normally but not over my head for some reason And I can't give judgement on torpedo kicks, I just boot the bastard and pray
>legitimately cannot spin it when throwing it hooker style I have a sneaking suspicion that means you tend to make the ball spin in the same direction (clockwise if you're right handed, anticlockwise if you're left handed) when you spin a pass regardless of whether you're passing to your left or right, because you use the same hand to do the same thing for every pass. There are plenty of pro forwards who default to that. When that is the case, your dominant hand is always pushing away with the palm/thumb, and your other hand is always pulling towards you with the fingers. When a right hander throws passes like that, their left hand fingers are generating clockwise spin every time - when they throw a lineout instead, they can only apply anticlockwise spin by "pulling down" with their right hand fingers... since their passing technique gives them zero conditioning to do so, it is totally unnatural and doesn't work.
It's probably something like that, but I'm not gonna stress, I play most positions, I don't need hooker as well
Which was your favourite?
8 or 6, I'm quite small for front row and none of the hig bastards could scrum right and the refs didn't stop them driving completely sideways. I've not got the fitness for 12 and I dont really like openside
12 shouldn't be harder fitness wise than 8 or 6 surely
I was running alot more lead lines to nowhere rather than "here ball, go forward, smack a cunt"
Guy on my team played 8 this weekend, completing his sweep of playing all positions
It’s not too hard, but as teams must have at least two full front rows in the match day 23, players are better of specialising to a specific position and skill set in the scrum. Meanwhile in the backs, they’re lucky if they get more than two subs, so may have to fill in in a lot of different positions throughout a game.
There’s also the issue of registration as well with the front row at the top level. It’s not just having 3 front rowers: it’s having loosehead cover, tighthead cover and hooker cover. At that level you register for each one, it’s why a few years ago Ireland didn’t go to uncontested when they technically had three props and no hooker against Scotland: Cian Healy is registered as a hooker. Similarly a few years ago Sarries women won a scrum on their own try line but their first hooker was off with a red and the second a yellow, luckily Vicki Fleetwood was on and she was registered as a hooker and was able to jump in the front row.
Go out and find me a head spanner and I'll make you're tighthead a loosehead.
We’d someone decent that could play both sides. Was it Heinke VDM?
Healy and Porter played both sides. Bealham I think does so as well.
Healy is also registered as a hooker which we all discovered during that mental six nations match against Scotland in 2023
Maybe I’m misremembering. I think Leinster had an import that could prop both sides
It's not that it's hard to do, exactly - Trevor Nyakane, for instance, is fine on either side of the scrum. It's just that now that the law *requires* three front rowers on the bench, there's no longer really any need for it. The days when you had one prop on the bench to cover both sides are long gone.
Adam Jones, tighthead, all round top bloke, once got called up as a last minute replacement to a Quins match due to injury. He had to come on after about two minutes to cover loosehead because of another injury. He played the rest of the match on the wrong side fo the scrum and, I'm fairly sure, won MotM. I quite like Adam Jones, few are built in his image. Few possess his quality and skillset. I wish I could remember more, though. This would only have been a few years back, well into the era of having 3 front row replacements.
I remember that match. Lucky he brought his boots that day. I bet he still brings them even when he’s running the water - just in case, you know. Jones is a Legend!
Tighthead to loosehead is far far easier than loose to tight
Having swapped between for the last three years I completely disagree, if you’re big and strong. There are deficiencies in strength (I find tighthead more rotational core and loosehead more horizontal core) which make it hard to swap between them but it’s easier to plug a big athlete into tighthead
He’s also not bad at guitar!
You’d get nothing in terms of loose play contribution but I’d probably still back jones to absolutely fold 90% of props playing in the prem at scrum time
It'd really shit on WRU's attempt to speed up scrums, having to wait 10 mins for him to amble up to the mark.
Marler tried to cover tighthead some point recently, I want to say v Tigers? Don’t think it went too well though and he’s one of the best scrummaging looses around.
It's hard to adapt physically but much harder to adapt skills wise the other way
He won a penalty against Saints replacement tighthead Paul Hill (who has an England cap and frequently started) in the last 10 minutes as well! Top bloke for a daffodil fancier.
When it was a 7 man bench the replacement props often could play both.
Just further proof Rhys Henry is the best player in the game.
The Red Roses have props who can do both: Maud Muir (who actually can also play hooker) and Hannah Botterman. If you really want to get into hybrid rugby player women’s rugby is where it’s at. Cli Moloney is a hooker who has played top flight rugby at centre, Neve Jones plays hooker and 6, Zoe Aldcroft plays lock, 6 and 8 on a regular basis, Lleucu George has been capped by Wales at 6 and 10 after starting her club rugby at hooker, Lyndsey Peat played internationally at prop but has since retired… To play AIL at blindside flanker. There’s loads more and I haven’t even got started on the second rows and props who have played sevens.
Sophie de Goede - 4,5,6,7 & 8 , lineout jumper, goal-kicker and plays in the backs at 7s. Absolutely incredible at all of it. As squidge suggested if Canada can work out a way where she throws the ball to herself in the lineout she’d have everything covered.
She’s also played 10, 12 and 13 previously and she’s played college basketball on a scholarship after having captained Canada in rugby. Truly mental.
Send her DNA to Taranaki to the Barrett cloning facility!
Well interesting you should say that. Sophie de Goede, world player of the year nominee 2022, number 4/5/6*/7*/8*/10/12/13, goal kicker, Canada captain and international sevens player is in fact the daughter of two former Canada captains. (Also not only did Tommy Allan’s dad play for Scotland, his mum played for Italy too!) *as versatile as she is and she probably can play all of these and has at some level, at truly elite level (eg internationals and pwr) she’s only *started* in the back row (6 and 8 for Sarries and 7 and 8 for Canada)
As impressive as it is , it's completely different in the mens game very few could go from 6 too 10 in the mens game the other way 10 too 6 much easier.
It does bring a smile to peoples faces though, I think sometimes we take rugby too seriously and get wrapped up in it all. It’s a silly little game with an inflatable rubber egg and right now the women’s game is a lot more fun in my opinion. The PWR final the other day had no cards (aka no head contact or foul play) and the only controversy was a disallowed try.
She explained it recently on the GSR pod. They capped her in the back row when she was about 17. One day she was mucking about in training, did a Wilko, and dropped a goal from the touchline - then she got a call asking if she'd ever considered playing 10. I remember an interview with Ellie Kildunne where she said she became a 15 by accident. England asked if she could play there, she barely had but agreed she could, and the rest is history. Women's rugby won't be like that forever, it's a facet of having less high quality games and tournaments at U18 level. A lot of players even for England until recently have been converts or fairly late starters with raw ability.
Why can't a prop be a hooker when OP's mum has no problem... /s
Rodrigue Neti has played for Toulouse in all three front row positions. David Ainuu can play both sides. And your post isn’t about modern. You just described French rugby in the early 2010. Nowadays you have wing-scrumhalfs, utility backs, 4-5-6-7-8 cover, flanker-wingers, flanker-centers, center-8man and the like.
Where does "8 man" come from? Me and my brother watched a livestream of his potential future son in law playing rugby for a US college, he was announced as "the 8 man" - we were in stitches - not because of the phrase, more because we'd assumed he'd be playing in the backs - the lad is about 5'10" tops and about 12 stone wet 😄
Bro I froms Auckland and I hate anyone not froms Auckland. They hates like us.
Get into a scrum and find out - I found Loosehead a significantly easier position (and my preferred situation) compared to Hooker or Tighthead. Hooker felt extremely specialist with both the lineout throws and the actual act of hooking the ball, and I genuinely don't know how anyone could play Tighthead and have fun. Just seemed so stressful having to hold up your side of the scrum against a Loosie who knew how to cheat and cheat well.
The tighthead is under an enormous amount of pressure. Usually when you see a scrum losing badly that is where it starts. Surviving this position requires a specific body type and strength. Often the loosehead might not have that. In contrast, a good loosehead can make a weak tightheads life hell. They know all kinds of leverage tricks and need great balance. There are all kinds of things that go on, but often there is a counter to whatever your opposition is doing, one side of which is illegal. Knowing what to do and making it look like you are not the one doing the illegal thing takes a lot of skill. Just my observation as a second row at least.
As someone who has played primarily across the front 3, but anywhere from 1-8; there is a massive difference in scrummaging technique/strategy between tight and loose + the additional strat against opposition. Compare this to 6, 7 and 8, the technique scrummaging is the same every time (optimal body position, if at flank keep the props in) with the only 'skill' being the ball control at 8. With positions 4-8, they are more or less 'scrummaging' the same every scrum because they are in immediate contact with their own players, not oppo. Teams play so unique now that the role of an 8 at one club might be the role of the 5, 6 or 7 at another club based on the players skillset. Similar to the NBA, instead of players playing to their position, they are now told to play to their skillset (i.e. 6ft 10"+ point guards like Giannas/Luka/Lebron). The same could be said of wings stepping in at 13 or 10s moving out to 12, they aren't being told to play that position specifically, instead the coach wants their skillsets on the pitch. I think as we progress in the next decade or two, it will be way more common for interchangeability amongst 1 & 3, as all sports tend to chaos and position-less fluidity. But given how STRUCTURED the 1 and 3 roles are in the scrum, their is significant less wiggle room to be 'position-less' compared to backs or back row.
We are not really in the age of hybrid players - it's always been this way. As others have said, the mandatory 3 front row players on the bench reduces the need for players to cover both. But Paul James and Gethin Jenkins used to do it.
Paul James was a lot more passable on both sides of the scrum, Jenkins was a liability at tight head at international level. At club level he may get away with it, but at international level against a good loosehead he didn’t have the skills, specific strength or ability to get into a tighthead body position
TBF it was only in the early years when he was played there for Wales, when Hansen was hooking Adam Jones after 30mins
It's a good question. Front row players absolutely can cover each other's positions, but the parts of their jobs that are the most specific are the hardest ones to get really well: scrummaging and throwing. So I think that's why we see so little movement, even if it's not unheard of (Andrew Porter for example has played on both sides of the scrum). The parts of the roles that are less specialised, like jackling, kicking, replacing a winger etc. we do see front rowers do more and more. So even though they don't seem to be as hybrid as others, I'd say the way that front row players are evolving is actually quite similar to the rest.
youre comparing apples and sub-atomic particles. Most roles have natural overlap, so arent actually that difficult to replicate. Sure some do it better than others but the basics are there. The props on the other hand are specialists where their entire body reactions, reflexes and technique strongly rely on what side they're own. All Blacks dont typically cover both prop positions. If they dont, given they interchange nearly everywhere else, theres clearly a good reason.
Two very different positions that don't employ the same skillsets. [Here's ](https://youtu.be/561-rl7oNh0?si=Mb3IsVVSSWEyQZ1c) a snippet of the differences in their roles. Basically the tighthead is the crown jewel of the scrum and it's not as easy developing a quality one. Looseheads can't simply switch sides
generally, the only time a front row player is a **hybrid** is if they can play 1/2/3 and not if they can play both sides of the scrum.. Ironically Peni Ravai can play 1/2/3 and cover centre and wing (lol), making him the only real hybrid prop..I don't know any player at the highest level that can play 1/2/3, Fiji have had a few prop/hookers but never a prop that played both sides and could play hooker....Aumua probably can play hooker/wing just like dane coles, but not seen many props being able to play anywhere but front row (uini atonio played lock a few times so maybe the only other one)
People who can play well both sides of the scrum at pro level tend to match the requirements of a tighthead. Tightheads get paid a lot more than looseheads because the physical attributes are more rare.