New Rules: Scrum?

jimbredin

There has been some mention of the proposed new rules, but i cant remember any discussion of the scrum

I think its one area that has lost its appeal in the modern game of rugby. From what i can see there isnt really much of a contest for the ball. one team puts the ball in and one of two things happens. the scrumhalf has it presented to him with out any hassle, or the whole lot collapses and the referee is forced into making a very difficult decision. repeated decisions usually become a yellow. a scrum is rarely actually taken against the head without any penalty.

now as a back, i dont claim to understand fully the intricacies. so rather im commenting from a spectators point of view.

in a lineout guys like mal and poc make things interesting by stealing or threatening opposition ball. its one of the most enjoyable aspects of the game. on the other hand when the ref awards a scrum, i basically sit back and wait for the interuption to finish, never sure of what the outcome might be or how it is determined.

just wondering what could be changed?

i might be way off here with my criticism, but thats my impression.

kermitdfrog

I'm a back, and wouldn't pretend to understand the intracacies of the scrum, but I think you are underestimating their worth in the modern game. A scrum going backwards will always drain the energy of the players, whether or not they still get the ball away from the base. A scrum under severe pressure puts pressure on the backline as well, tires out the forwards, and can lead to turnovers by twisting pat the 90, or penalities. I dont think it's any coincidence that, for example, Marcus Horan, on of our best ball carriers, had a (relatively) quite six nations, ball in hand - the more powerful scrums of our opposition took their toll. I agree that the contest has been taken away, that it's rare that a team doesnt keep the ball on their put in, but there's plenty of "bad" ball comes out, and all of the above mentioned pressure. Dont tell me you see weak scrum defending on its own 5 metre line, and you dont think "there's something on here"?

Trojan

It might be hard for someone watching a static international scrum that there may be 1.5-2 tonnes of force being applied through those guys.

I'll be it's hard to mess with something like that in a way to make it more exciting without making it more dangerous at the same time. What exactly did you have in mind?

Let's not go down the road of League

jimbredin

tbh, didnt have anything specific in mind, cos didnt really know a whole lot about it! understand a bit better now.

agreed-it would be tricky to come up with changes which dont put players at risk.