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What's so bad about a scrum?

Happier, huggier days for the Melbourne Storm. (AAP Image/Paul Miller)
Roar Guru
20th August, 2014
22

I rather like the rugby league scrum, and I would hate to see it go.

I bring this up in the wake of the ball boy issue that occurred at ANZ stadium on Friday night.

The quick tap from a 40-20 rule has been a failure. This was outlined by Brad Arthur on the weekend when he stated that 20 of 25 attempted quick taps have been pulled back this season.

The Tigers went on to have one pulled up after he said this, so now it sits at 21 from 26. That means that less than 20 per cent of quick taps from 40-20s have been deemed legal.

This statistic shows the players don’t fully understand the rule, the ball boys don’t understand the rule and as a fan, I don’t understand it either.

It took the incident on the weekend for me to fully make sense of the rule – previously I was left wondering why they pulled it up.

The NRL rules committee will meet on Thursday, and if you believe the press, the rule may be changed back to how it was last year. I would consider this a positive move – receiving the ball from a scrum after a 40-20 is reward enough.

Pursuing with the quick tap basically gives the attacking team a try or a penalty and possibly even a man advantage after the professional foul sin-dinning, too much advantage for doing a really good kick from within your own half.

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Scrums in rugby league have received plenty of flak over recent years and many fans have called for them to bite the dust. But scrums provide a great opportunity at some open field play. They are the NRL equivalent to the trick plays you see attempted in American football.

Some of the tries scored from scrums over the past few years, particularly from Melbourne and Manly, have been beauties.

They do take a lot of time, and yes it is a tedious watching the referees make forwards re-pack and halfbacks re-feed. But surely with some tinkering we can speed up the process.

You hear commentators and fans also getting upset with backs packing into scrums, but this is another modern interpretation I enjoy. One team lines up their best attackers and the other their best defenders for a one tackle, seven-on-seven play. May the best team win.

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