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Rugby league should bring back real scrums

Roar Guru
2nd December, 2009
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Roar Guru
2nd December, 2009
59
4312 Reads

Rugby league is a game that changes with the times. This is what makes our game great. Rugby league has for a long time tried to make the game faster, and because of this, have disposed of the contested scrum.

But maybe it’s time to reclaim it.

The scrum is the only spectacle rugby union has over our great game.

No matter what code you support, the scrum is one of the most beautiful and fearsome battles in the game. And rugby league used to have this battle.

But the league scrum today is dismal at best and it has been touted that the scrum should be scrapped from the game due to its uselessness.

The rugby league scrum (or the “lean on”, as our union brothers taunt) needs to be reintroduced and the rules need to be looked at. The league scrum is still very close to the union scrum in law, just not in practice.

The law of rugby league allows for uncontested scrums, but there are still laws allowing for them to be contested.

First of all, it is interesting to know that when the scrum is locked in, both teams are allowed to push-even before the ball has been fed.

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Also, the ball must be fed straight through the legs of the front rowers of the opposing teams (the law states that only the hooker can rake for the ball. After they have come in contact with the ball, all players are able to play at it).

All this seems to state that the scrum is allowed to be contested, and that the referees could penalise a lot of teams for not feeding the ball correctly.

The scrum would take a lot out of the forwards and allow the backs to show off some of their brilliant footwork and speed to score tries.

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