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The scenes at the Warriors-Eels game on Sunday were nothing short of incredible. The Warriors smacked the Eels. The crowd had a great time.
But most astonishing of all, a scrum was won against the feed. Watch the video above to see the maniacal and somewhat hilarious action that followed, with slippery fullback Sam Tomkins diving on the ball and bumbling over the line for a try.
It’s prompted many responses – most with a similar ring to them:
‘It’s a bloody good tactic; why don’t we see more of it?’
The first and most obvious answer to that question is that it’s a surprise tactic, a shock weapon, that only works every once in a while. Any player and coach in the NRL would probably attest to this.
It helped that the Eels looked like they hadn’t turned up to Mount Smart Stadium with their heads screwed on 100 per cent that day.
Watching that scrum disintegrate, bodies flying everywhere, was definitely a satisfying experience for all those watching that afternoon.
But it’s gone a step further than that today, with Bulldogs great Steve Mortimer demanding we see more of it. He told Fox Sports:
“Right now the scrum is an embarrassment. It looks absolutely shabby to the people watching the game and it’s an insult to the integrity and the intelligence of rugby league supporters.
“We need to get the players involved in the scrum contesting it again and the way to do that is by bringing back the differential penalty.”
Can a step backwards be a step forwards for rugby league in this case?
Is Steve Mortimer right to demand more competition in the scrums while the game has moved further and further away from any semblance of competition in the set piece?
Tell us what you think in the comments Roarers.
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