What a mess the scrum is in at International level in Rugby Union.
The scrum, at the highest level at least, is nothing short of a bad joke: currently, 60% of all scrums collapse in top-level internationals and 40% of scrums have to be reset. In addition, the average time to complete a scrum is just under a minute, which adds up to an awful lot of watching 16 huge men in a pile on the floor.
England coach Martin Johnson called last year’s Six Nations match between England and Scotland at Murrayfield “a game of rugby trying to break out between scrums”. And when BBC pundit Brian Moore, a former hooker who won 64 international caps, is so often moved to admit he hasn’t got a clue what’s going on at scrum-time, you know you’ve got a problem.
I met the Saracens hooker Ethienne Reynecke recently, and he confirmed that the hit is crucial these days, the whole scrum is far more intense than even 5-10 years ago, and that neither hooker gets to strike at the ball – such is the pressure that there’s simply no chance to lift one foot off the ground.
I recommend the 5 min video discussion in the blog posting below. In it Kingsley Jones (former Wales flanker, current head coach at Sale) has some sensible suggestions about how to change the law to produce what everyone wants to see. There’s a scripted excerpt below, but it makes a lot more sense in the vid.
Tackling the scrum
Ben Dirs Blog
30 January 2011
KJ: The solution is simple. The laws are contradictory at the moment – Law 20.1 states that the scrum must be square and stationary in line with the touchline and over the mark before the ball can be introduced. Law 20.5 then states the ball must be introduced immediately on the front rows’ engagement or when the referee instructs the scrum-half to do so.
So just put a line through the first part of Law 20.5 – the part where it says the ball must be introduced immediately on the front rows’ engagement – because it’s causing confusion for everyone.
Do that and we will have, like we used to have, a pushing contest and a striking contest once the scrum is stable over the mark. The referee can now manage to look at who’s square, who’s binding, who’s on-side or off-side and whether the ball is introduced correctly.