We've had a few weeks now. How do you think the new scrumming laws are working out?

IRB certainly can't be faulted for turning a blind eye. But part of the discussion that gets little play from the professional commentators is that the problems are largely limited to Elite-level play. Do your club or school/uni matches have these problems? Not ones that I watch, and I daresay that in the SA universities (where many of the variations are trialed) they don't have the problems either. And I don't think the lower-level scrums have had problems akin to the Elites for the last several variations.

This suggests to me that the problem is not with the variations, but rather with the way Elite scrums are coached and with the hyper-competitiveness of the Elite-level game. If they can't make it, they are going to actually have to go out and work for a living. One sees the same thing in loose play, of course. Top-level loose forwards push the rules and make the referees call them back. Well, front-row forwards are not as dumb as they appear, and they (specifically the props) do the same thing.

In the case of scrums, the issue is made more difficult because of the enormous mass and the increasing speed of the scrum with the full-time training and nutrition that now exists. It is not just the front rows, it is 8 on 8 at the point of contact, with total masses at Elite level pushing 900 kg or even more per side. Given the total momentum (mass times velocity) even slight changes in the forces involved will transmit to the men at the points of contact, and they have to first anticipate that force and then react to what actually happens. Note that it is not the same thing as scrummaging against a machine, because it involves only half the mass and none of the disruption generated from the opposition. For lower-level competitions, again the masses are lower (maybe much lower), and the reaction times slower, so the total momentum transfers are lower.

I think the new law may actually work better for settling the incidental momentum-transfer questions, by allowing the initial binds to be made. It would also help if they required forwards to wear looser-fitting jumpers so that binds can be practicably achieved quickly and then maintained. But if props decide to bore, then there will be problems, regardless of what the engagement sequence is meant to be.

Mark L.

It doesn't seem to work but the front-row mechanics were never my strong point. When professional scrummagers have problems adjusting to the new laws, you have to question those laws. These men know their trade; it's the suits who haven't played for so long and intellectualize Rugby are the ones who call the shots though....

The scrum turned into a joke a few years ago (an easy way to run off a few mins. from the clock or get a handy penalty/free-kick) but I think the IRB is trying too hard to rectify it and has needlessly complicated matters. I don't know what panel they employ to introduce these updates (ref's, front-row's, coaches?) but they need to simplify it for the sake of the game.