Sterilised engagement in scrums

If scrums die we may as well have a hybrid game and league and union will be even more the same . They should stay 2 very different sports. I think lineouts have changed for the worst with lifting, why they brought line out lifting in i will never know. was it for injury prevention i don't know any one else know. I used to love the old line outs, where the ball was thrown in straight and the 2 locks would jump hard for the ball. maybe they bright line out lifting in to give props another job as the IRB was devaluing scrums. But for me the saddest thing in rugby is watching the super 15 especially, and there contempt for scrums, it is as if in the super 15 scrums are annoying to ZANZAR. lineouts ,scrums, kick restarts, set pieces in other words are to me the major difference between league and union. if set pieces are reduced to what scrums are in league, or watered down even more rugby may as well become a hybrid game, and boring and predictable like league. the thing i love about rugby is the multiple body shapes, form your andrew blades and matt dunning, to your SBW's, to your monesters dan vickerman and james horwill. IF rugby gets rid fo set pieces all the forwards will be the same body shape, jerome kaino SBW types. all the same will make rugby boring.

The scrum should revert to what worked for many many years, form up, engage, take a bit of pressure and then wait for the feed, then you can try to assert dominance. The 'hit' is counter to everything in the law book, is potentially dangerous, leads to instability and adds nothing to the pleasure of watching. The question remains, if the previous sentences are true then what is the IRB looking at, attempting to achieve etc. Come on Paddy, get our game back for us.

Here are some facts: I still play first grade front row so know a little about it....tying not to sound like a tosser there. 1)super tight and glossy Jerseys should not be allowed to be used by props. They really do make it hard to bind and allow more collapses...and make most of us look stupid. 2)pause should be banned. The last version was more than good enough. Pause has actually made it more dangerous in my opinion. 3)The IRB mandate that who evers hand hits the ground first is 100% stupid. More often that not its the innocent prop who puts his hand down as he's not in control while the other prop brings it down. 4) Give them some more space. There is no gap between the front rows these days which mean there isnt any proper hit. This means hard to assert yourself over other teams leaving no other option than to try to milk a penalty. 5) refs get a clue. I can't begin to tell you how much all the props of the world laugh at how wrong the refs get it. Refs base 90% of their calls on guess work and playing favorites. It really is that bad. In short, yes the scrums are a joke now.

I think that the main problem is inconsistent timing by the referees between their calls. I know that they say they want to maintain the capacity to ensure that they are happy with the set prior to engagement, however they have the whistle in hand and can always call the packs back up, if they see something they're unhappy with. If they spoke to the forward packs prior to the match and said, they would do the following, with the following cadence: "Crouch", one, two, "Touch", one, two, "Pause, one, two, "Engage". They could add a three count in there, if they wished. Packing a scrum safely is all about timing, which is what both packs want.

Sledgehammer by depowering scrums you will make rugby union more closely related to rugby league then. The major differences between rugby league and union is set pieces and unlimited tackles in rugby union. Devaling set paeices will make rugby boring and predictable like rugby league. Set pieces are wonderful and people have some patience like set pieces, non set pieces like in rugby league make the sport always the same, bubble gummish and meaningless. if you stop set pieces in rugby all the forwad will be the same type of build and body shape like in league, majority will all be like SBW builds or lawrance dalligo or samo. No more monsters 6'8 types like bakes botha, dan vickerman, victor matifield, nathan sharpe, and no more small type props like matt dunning, and blokes like al baxter would not be suitable in rugby league. No set pieces will make rugby boring and like rugby league.

I think in the next few years radical changes will occur to the scrum. This has already occured at lineout time where lifting is now allowed. The scrum version will be fewer players in the scrum, which will depower the scrum, avoid collapses, and allow for a real contest as both teams go hell for leather trying to win the ball. The best example of this currently is in 7s rugby, 3 on 3 doesn't collapse. Testing will need to be done to find the optimal numbers for the scrum - we could end up with a 5 man scrum for instance, with the 2 props, hooker, and 2 backrowers to steady and push. New laws will need to be developed for the number 8 and breakaway, perhaps they will be required to have one hand on the scrum, but not allowed to bind or push. One thing is clear, scrums currently don't work and in my view, never will under current set up. Simply put the 8 man scrum is a failure, no tinkering is required, a complete overall is.

I don't think the penalties has anything to do with the pause. It has more to do with an inability to be pushed backwards and tight high gloss jersys that are difficult to grip. You are correct that in the past the scrum engagement was player driven but it was also a relatively 'soft' engagement as opposed to what we have now (they casme together with no push til that ball was in). Injuries in these eras weren't in the engagement they took place after the ball was in