- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Excitement is building to a crescendo as Julian Savea charges towards the line. He flings a pass back inside as the crowd goes wild, Smith gets a hand to the ball and knocks it forward.
Anti-climax reigns supreme as the ref blows for a scrum. Half the crowd get up to go buy a beer as they know by the time they get back the scrum will have been reset three times, a penalty will have been given and they’ll still be in time to see any action after the kick at goal and the restart.
Those watching at home recorded the game hours ago and are fast forwarding at 30x speed to get past the inactivity of the scrum resets.
Scrums are currently a blight on the game of rugby. Recent studies have shown that on average around 20 minutes of game time is lost between the ref blowing for a scrum and the ball finally getting back into play.
The same studies show that the ball comes out of scrums less than 20 per cent of the time. Most scrums end with a penalty. Something needs to be done.
There are two problems here. First, the time taken out of the game, and second, the desperate need for defending teams to stop the opposition getting good ball from scrums, which contributes the most to the mess scrums have become.
Many people have advocated stopping the clock when the ref blows for a scrum and this is certainly the best option to stop the time taken out of the game. But the TV powers that be don’t want this to happen as currently rugby fits neatly into 90-minute time slots with little chance of running over time and interfering with later programming.
So it would be a bold move by World Rugby to potentially increase TV time by 20 minutes or more.
Still, World Rugby needs to make this move in the interests of the rugby viewer, not the TV programmer.
The other problem is scrum penalties. Scrum experts generally can’t tell who’s done what to whom in the scrum and referees are simply guessing.
These days their guesses usually reward the dominant scrum. If you can push the other scrum back for long enough you will eventually win a penalty.
Once upon a time if the defending team managed to screw the scrum around 180 degrees they might get a reset and the ball, but today they will be penalised.
Virtually everything at the scrum results in a penalty: two collapses and someone will be penalised; screw it around – you’ll be penalised; get overpowered – you’ll be penalised; slip and go down – you’ll be penalised; have poor technique – you’ll be penalised; put your hand on the ground – you’ll be penalised.
Sometimes the penalty comes even before the ball comes near the scrum.
So what’s the answer? Certainly the first step is, as many people advocate, turning the penalties into short arm free kicks. But all that does is usually result in another scrum.
This is only the first part of the answer. To really fix the problem the free kick rule at the scrum needs to be tweaked. Remember the whole point of the scrum is to restart play with the ball given to the team that did not infringe, therefore we want play restarted with clean ball.
A free kick for a scrum infringement only does this if the rule further states that when a scrum free kick is taken, all forwards must remain bound to the scrum.
They may only unbind once the halfback (not the No. 8 who must remain bound) has tapped the ball at the base of the scrum.
Defending backs can remain five metres back from the scrum and do not have to retire another five metres.
If this simple tweak is added, the ball will be flung into the backline from virtually every scrum. Teams will be able to plan scrum moves knowing that it is likely they will get to run the move.
Either the ball will come out the back of the scrum and the No. 8 or halfback will play on normally, or a free kick will be given and the halfback will immediately run to the back of the scrum, tap and pass, before probably running the backline move which had been originally planned.
It will become the responsibility of the defending team to keep the scrum up, as if it collapses, they are likely to be free kicked and their flankers will have to get off the ground, where they are bound on the collapsed scrum, before they can chase the ball.
If the scrum doesn’t collapse, the defending flankers will have the extra fraction of a second start by running from a crouched position bound on a set scrum rather than bound much lower on a collapsed scrum.
Suddenly scrums will not be a blight on the game but a guarantee that play will restart with a sparkling backline move.
Make this change and I promise I will never again leave to get a beer, or fast forward through scrums and the penalty kick which follows. I will know that some sort of backline play will follow a scrum, not simply a kick at goal or the touchline.
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.