Enough is enough, it's time for the scrum to go

It's a pity the contest has been taken out of league scrums. But in these days of superfit players capable of covering much more ground than 30 years ago, it provides (theoretically) a rare opportunity for the attack to line up 7-on-7 instead of 13-on-13, thus creating more space for an attack from the scrumbase. And given that recent rule changes have put an even higher premium on retaining possession, why not reinstate a legitimate challenge for the ball? I cursed the day they got rid of raking in the play-the-ball. Hated Elias but he was a genius at it.

The scrum in rugby is heading the same way as League. The feed in is no longer down the middle and , like League , has become just another way of restarting . Thoudh a good scrum can even overcome this. The League scrums remind of a Darwinian example , aka tailbone , of a bygone era.

In rugby, the scrum serves as a set piece play. It's where you can plan an attack instead of relying on quick phase (or ruck) ball. While tightheads (wins against the feed) are rare, it still happens and can change the dynamic of a team's approach (from defensive to offensive or vice versa). The rugby scrum also allows for a move off the back where the last man in the scrum, the No 8, can set up an attacking move himself or link with the halfback. In the rugby league variety, you don't have a No 8. Would one of the second-rowers be allowed to detach early if he had the ball in hand? A few years ago,in a Panthers-Warriors (?) game at Penrith, I saw a half-contested scrum (I think it was the Warriors who did it). They set up for it by aligning their backline deeper than normal. When the opposition fed the ball in, the Warriors backs began to move at the same time as the pack shoved their opponents off the mark and won the ball for the halfback to quickly feed his fast-moving backs. Contesting a scrum could win the ball back especially if the opponents are not expecting it. I'm not sure if the refs have to be warned about it beforehand. The other thing with contested scrums is that it is likely to slow the game down with its resets. In union, the resets are mainly (although not always) safety related. If a scrum goes down, it gets blown up almost immediately.

Ahh, when I hear that the end of the scrum is nigh I cannot help but think of that song sang by Barbara Streisand, 'The Way we were'. So sad, all those wonderful times packing down in the scrum. The tears are rolling.

League should get it's laws back to being more union like. It has drifted too much from the essence of what rugby is. It is more like gridiron now. When are they going to have the forward pass?

that article was an absolute outlier, the scrum most think is fine in rugby, just that there has to be a point of break when it comes to people not binding properly or having an awkward gate when engaging. in terms of the RL scrum, its pretty idiotic but i can see the point that some of the others have made.

I looked at the laws of RL and there is more that should be penalised in the scrums today than there should have been in the 80's. It states that the ball should be fed straight, not backwards and not through the second-rowers legs. And the rules allow for contested scrums, even before the ball is fed, you just cannot push so much to disadvantage the feeding team. I love watching the scrum in union only being 5 metres out and you see the push and a try is scored by FORWARDS, but it does need to be looked at and coached on.

Well I thought so.

love it sheek hahahaha

please tell me you are joking, i have never heard something so absurd, throwing the ball forward goes against the whole premise of rugby in either code. It wont open any US markets... please you are just trying to copy the NFL at their own game. I have to say that recommendation is one of the most ridiculous i have ever heard on the roar. Dragons

Now THAT sounds interesting! But you know what the yanks would call it - Australian Football! Cue soccer-philic code war.

Tell that to Toulon. You though Sonny Bill got paid well, check out Carl Hayman.

Rugby union scrums are okay. I'm just pissed off with the constant resets. If they can't get it right after two engagements, give one side a short arm penalty. Or full arm penalty if offence is deemed more serious. Re rugby league scrums, scrap 'em! My suggestion,provided previously, as follows: 1. Replace scrum with line of scrimmage ala American football. From left to right - prop (tightend), 2nd/row, hooker (centreman), 2nd/row, prop (tightend). Lock acts as loose forward & free runner (or even one of the other forwards in his place). Opposition similarly aligned. 2. Halfback is like the quarterback, receives ball from hooker (centreman) on snapback. One outside back can stand offside (like a running back). 3. On first tackle, either halfback has option to throw forward, or if he passes to five-eight, he can throw forward. Only on first tackle. If forward throw is not taken, option is lost for remaining tackles. 4. Tackles 2-5 revert to normal rugby league as we know it at present. This will revolutionize the game, & perhaps help open markets into USA!

Just because the coaches and the referees in the NRL don't want players to contend the scrum anymore doesn't mean it should be abolished. The NRL isn't the only rugby league competition in the world. Amateur footy the scrums are often contested, in Super League the other week Wigan pushed in the scrum and scored a try straight off it from 80 metres out. Pushing is still allowed very much in the scrum these days, it is just the stupid bloody refs pull it up as soon as the scrum moves off the coin it was supposed to be set on. The easiest way to make scrums meaningful again is just to change the rule so the half has to feedthe ball in front of both legs of the prop, thereby sending it behind the hookers legs giving the opposing hooker a chance to strike for the ball. However this would only work if the coaches put the hookers back in the hooking spot, instead of a front-rower, second-rower or even fullback that pack in between the props at the moment. Maybe the rules should change so that every forward has to pack in their rightful position.

Why not borrow the "bounce" from AFL, or tip off from basketball because from what is going on at present you could hardly call it a scrum. Get fair dinkum and either scrap it or re-learn the lost art. The only real difference between a Rugby and League scrum of yesteryear, is the height at which it was packed. In my opinions this was due to having break-aways (flankers). Try locating old footage mid 60s through 70s of Souths (Rabbitoh’s/Bunnies). They had an awesome scrum, remember John Satler, John O’Neill and Ron Coote; the stuff of legends.

The purpose is to disrupt the opposition and either produce ugly play or win a penalty? Talk about negative rugby...

you obviously are not a watcher or rugby I take it

Why not borrow the "bounce" from AFL, or tip off from basketball because from what is going on at present you could hardly call it a scrum. Get fair dinkum and either scrap it or re-learn the lost art. The only real difference between a Rugby and a League scrum of yesteryear is the height at which it was packed. In my opinions this was due to having break-aways (flankers). Try locating old footage mid 60s through 70s of Souths (Rabbitoh’s/Bunnies). They had an awesome scrum, remember John Satler, John O’Neill and Ron Coote; stuff of legends.

I'm sick of the scrum, I agree with what Hoy said. Everyone and anyone is jumping into the scrum! Its not your position so beat it and let the normal positional players jump in on the scrum! Should go back to old school of putting the ball into the middle where the hookers actually "hooked" the ball out to the back of the scrum. The rugby scrum is 10x better. Some of you say its a non contest and most go with the feeding team , true, but at least they are having to work to win the feed! You see a win against the feed in League once every blue moon! Get rid of it or feed it into the middle!

But isn't that precisely the point I am making??