MORE ON THAT SCRUM

written Wednesday 25/04/07

2007,  THE YEAR OF THE HORRIBLE SCRUM

That old scrum keeps raising it’s horrible head as the bringer of much evil to the game of rugby in 2007,  and rightly so.  I do enjoy scrums,  and a good scrum battle,  but 2007 has seen scrums take the game to very low levels. 

What has changed in 2007.  We have this four call engagement sequence,  “Crouch,  Touch,  Pause,  Engage”.  The call sequence is not so much the problem,  but a catalyst to it.  Why?  We have the two scrums closer together now,  to effect the touch part of the sequence,  thereby making the trip or snap across that space so much more important.  Then we have all teams coached to pre empt the “engage” call,  so that they are going on the first sound,  or even just before.  So we have a matter of timing.  Some refs are calling it slowly,  some are calling it quickly,  some are varying their calls within a game,  very dangerous stuff. 

Post engagement,  we are then seeing a battle for the space,  obviously prior to the ball being fed.  There is so much movement with ascendancy trying to be gained prior to the ball entering the scrum.  Law is pretty clear and simple here,  no pushing prior to the ball being fed.  That is not being policed at all with scrums moving and jiving all over the shop prior to the ball being fed. 

We also witness really poor technique at most levels of the game.  When we go off to coaching seminars,  we always hear about hitting on the up,  which is right when you look at the physics,  yet so many of these guys are pointing downwards prior to engagement,  and that sure is the way you will go if that is the way you are pointing. 

I have seen much written about binding,  new wave jerseys too tight,  and so on and so forth.  I would have thought even amongst your own side,  a strong bind at scrummage time is very important,  so jerseys that are able to be gripped on and bound amongst the forwards would be a necessity.  However,  on to the props binding on each other,  again simple physics.  In the old days it was a battle of strength as well as smarts,  but again the Law today is simple,  bind up on the back,  and don’t bear down.  So elbows and arms post bind should be parallel to the ground,  elbows pointing down,  penalty. 

Never be mistaken,  a prop pulling a scrum down is a sign of weakness,  not of strength.  I had a prop tell me last year,  I put him up,  I put him down,  I tore him apart.  My answer was simple,  you never put him backwards,  not one time,  and that is where I want him to go,  in a simple sense. 

Resets and penalties for collapsed scrums after the ball is at the number 8’s feet and for when the scrum goes up,  very frustrating.  By the time the ref blows the whistle for these things,  I can assure you the damage has already been done if there is damage happening,  so from a risk perspective,  it seemingly increases risk due to a reset,  not decreases risk. 

Hopefully when they look at all these factors,  the Lawmakers realize the need to maintain the contestable phases of the game,  the scrum being one of them.  I think a barrage of penalties early in games would set the scene for better behaviour at this phase,  coupled with the coaching of better techniques.  Refs also need to be very consistent on call speeds,  and need to stay out of technical scrum coaching,  I hear them telling guys now where to put their feet.   If they don’t know that at Super 14 level,  then the scrum is in some trouble.

While you may not and possibly do not agree with the authour and his thoughts,  the authour doesn't really care,  and freely admits he may not be 100% correct.  However,  the basis of what is said is factual as best we can determine on any given day.  Always challenge the status quo,  better things evolve when current systems and ideals are questioned and challenged.  Make change positive,  strive to make positive change.