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Law 20 of the IRB Laws of Rugby deals with the scrum and accounts for eleven pages of the Laws of the game. With some glee, I have now learned that it is an offence under the Laws of Rugby to loiter near a scrum.
After witnessing the farce of uncontested scrums during Saturday night’s Waratahs Vs Stormers game, one more clause ought to be added to Law 20: it should be an automatic free kick if one side is unable to contest a scrum.
It is manifestly unfair for one side not to be able to participate in a vital contest for possession. If one accepts that it is fair enough to declare no contest when you run out of fit props, then why not no contest for lineouts if all your jumpers are injured and no kicking for goal if your goal kickers are injured?
It is common place in lower grade rugby for games to start with no contested scrums, having selected two extra breakaways in the front row and potentially gaining an unfair advantage.
The Laws should address this situation to ensure that the scrum remains a meaningful part of the game at amateur level.
And it would not be hard to imagine that the absence of sanction for failing to contest a scrum could be exploited at a professional level by canny coaches who know they have a vastly inferior scrum.
Pick four props in your team but instruct them all to cry injury at certain stages of the game and then finish the game with two extra back rowers on the park.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.