SCRUMMING MESS
Whatever is being done to clean up the scrumming mess, it’s not working. The slower engagement sequence is not working. Penalising is not working. Perhaps they are starting from the wrong end of the problem.
The International Rugby Board has been concerned about the collapsing and resetting of the scrum. The figure was recently given of 18% of a rugby Test was taken in resetting the scrum – 18% of playing time. It is no wonder that the time the ball is in play in a Test is little more than 30 minutes out of 80.
The IRB identified it as one of five important areas of refereeing that needed attention. This led to the introduction of the slower engagement sequence and the instruction to referees to penalise more. Let’s look at the outcome in matches involving the top six teams in the world.
It’s easy to see the problem as an Australian creation and certainly at least since the days of Bill Young, Australian scrumming has been poor and a blight on the game. But it’s not just Australia. Ireland were dismal against Samoa this past weekend.
These are Ireland’s scrum figures: 8 scrums, 8 resets, 12 collapses, 4 penalties, 1 free kick.
One scrum took 4 minutes and 16 seconds from start to finish and then the finish was a penalty to Samoa. That scrum took up 5% of the match time, because there is no stoppage on resetting scrums. The scrum had 5 resets, 5 collapses and ended with a penalty. Of 15 scrums in that match one had a natural ending.
When England played Australia, there were mercifully few scrums – just 7 in all, but not one had a natural ending
Scotland put the ball into 10 scrums: 6 reset, 7 collapses, 4 penalties, 2 free kicks
That cannot be considered acceptable.
Let’s look at four top matches from the weekend and bundle all the scrums together.
Wales vs South Africa: 11 scrums, 6 resets, 6 collapses, 2 penalties, 1 free kick.
England vs Australia: 7 scrums, 2 resets, 7 collapses, 3 penalties, 3 free kicks
Scotland vs New Zealand: 21 scrums, 7 resets, 10 collapses, 4 penalties, 3 free kicks
Ireland vs Samoa: 15 scrums, 11 resets, 15 collapses, 5 penalties, 3 free kicks
Totals for four matches: 50 scrums, 26 resets, 28 collapses, 14 penalties, 10 free kicks
50 scrums and 78 problems. Even if you take the collapses out of the equation on the assumption that they are dealt with under resets, penalties and free kicks, you have 50 scrums and 50 problems needing remedial action.
That is not great.
Delaying tactics and punishment are not working – not unless the present state of affairs is regarded as an accountable situation..
The danger is that there may be people who will want to water down the scrum till it looks like a league scrum, or go further and reduce scrums to uncontested affairs or even remove the scrum altogether.
Do that and you will have a new game that should not be called rugby football at all. The scrum is at the essence of the game. In the beginning it was the game. It is the inner distinctive beauty of the game. It is what makes the game a game for all shapes and sizes, unlike the one-size-fits-all of some other games.
We shall talk more about the scrumming.
Super you know how I feel about the way they have destroyed the scrum.
In trying to control something that they have not taken the time to understand they have watered it down and made this problem for themselves.
Scrumming is not the problem.
The problem is the egos who will not look at the scrum correctly and then formulate how to ref it taking into account that it should always be a contest.
That contest starts at the hit and because they do not understand the mentality of props ready to hit in they have done the opposite to what is needed by delaying the hit instead of getting it to happen quickly.
The PAUSE is the problem and should be removed.
The better pack should get the advantage every time, instead they have created a situation where you get penalized for being superior to your opponents.
Secondly refs should be taught by former props about the tactics of both the loose head and tight head depending on who has the put in.
Then they should be taught to understand the tricks and to judge if a prop is “milking the penalty”
Of course they do not want to admit that they are ignorant about these things, so they make up the rules to suit their own interpretation of scrumming and expect it to work!!
@ tight head:
I saw you agreed with Deans earlier. I never thought bad off the Aussie front row, they have experienced props their technique might be wrong sometimes but they became targets of ref with preconceived opinions on them. What was open to see was that their back 3 came up too early, but the HIT was wrongly blown by the refs. We also suffered from that.
@ superBul:
Yes Super the hit is being blown badly by all refs.
They do not understand the mentality and mechanics of what the loose head and tight head are attemting to do.
As a result it is a lottery as to who gets penalized.
In simple terms the tight head will more often than not try to take the loose head down, and the loose head will try to take the tight head up, and of course either prop can also bluff by allowing this to happen in the hope of getting the penalty.
This sounds complicated to ref, but when the refs understand what is going on they will get a lot more calls right than what is currently happenning.
The main problem that they have created is the early engagement penalty which is a direct result of the PAUSE call which should be removed altogether.
Once the ref has called TOUCH then there should be a contest at the engagement and if one team gets the hit a little sooner then that is part of the contest.
Did we have as many resets in the old days?
@ Lion4ever:
You only have to watch a couple of tests on ESPN Classic from the 90’s and you’ll soon see that there were very few resets or collapsed scrums in that era.
Mainly (I think) because the “front row union” knew the intricacies of their trade and just got on with the job at hand.
The ref’s, either through total ignorance of what was going on, or a DILLIGAF attitude let the props get on with it for the most part, and only when a visibly weaker prop who was getting his own head shoved up his rectum by his opposite number started deliberately dropping the scrum did the ref’ step in.
The scrummage (and the policing thereof)is probably the one area of the game that has regressed in the modern era. (At least that’s how I see it.)
A really top notch prop with a superior technique is rarely if ever allowed to use his skills.
@ Scrumdown:
Exactly Srumdown!!
Your last sentence explains clearly how absurd it has become!!
Scrumdown wrote:
this cancels out any hope of a true strongman like Tommie Laubcher. A nostalgic memory of a strong prop walking to the next scrum, the play where he is king, the master of strength, true props
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