Competitive scrums please can we start some sort of movement to bring them back.
i'll be honest the procession is a bit tedious and im getting fed up of it

at least union as line outs which can be won against the feed

You might as well have a play the ball and get rid of scrums altogether the way they are at the moment.

I'd love to see us try and push the scrum as IMO the opposition are taking it as a given that they will get the ball straight from the scrum and they don't put any weight in defending the ball as they know that there is no contest for the ball (apart from with the feet as the ball is put in)

the ref should watch the ball being placed in the scrum and if he feels it is unfair then penalise the half back.

No and no. The scrum takes the forwards out of the game and thus it is used as an attacking set-piece. Leave it as it is.

i agree but would it not be better if it was the oppositions head and feed and we won the scrum turning it into OUR attack.

An unpredictable scrum would be a hell of a lot more interesting and exciting

On a few occasions yes. But mostly, what you would get is the scrum having to be re-set several times before the ball goes in as the forwards push too early or it gets wheeled through 90 degrees or it collapses. Or it ends in a penalty due to something going wrong. These were the reasons why we got rid of them in the first place - because RL is about the ball being alive and players running with it, not falling in a big heap on the floor - if you want that, RU does a fine job of it.

But if that's the case lets do away with it all together or change it with a line out.
a lineout is easy to set and fast and to the point

Exactly. End of discussion.



No its not. Players still have to position themselves in a parallel line which takes time, similar to forming a scrum.

I would prefer it that scrums were awarded to the attacking team as long as the kick is kicked from there own half of the field and goes more than 10 mtrs into the opponents side of the pitch 40 - 20's do not add much to the game imo as last season there were only 37 in the whole season in the whole league ,which imo makes it a non event.
The scrum should be fed into the hookers feet and not the 2nd row to make it competitive.

Rugby Union has incorporated uncontested scrums into matches recently. Even they are getting fed up of the referee having to talk to grown men like children; "No, engage when [iI[/i say so", "Don't touch yet", "Right. Enough. Penalty", etc.

Surely the fact they are so rare means the exact opposite - they ARE an event. Certainly appears that way - the crowd always loves seeing them as it immediately puts their team into an attacking position and the players always celebrate like they've already scored. It also means the defending side always make the effort to get back to cover and actually prevent most 40-20 attempts - hence reducing the no. of scrums.

Rugby union has always had the concept of uncontested scrums. It is invoked when there are not enough front row players on the pitch due to injury or sin binning etc.

I would love to see some contest coming back into the scrum but don't want a return to the bad old days of the ref taking 3 or 4 attempts at getting it set before the play actually continues.

That said I think all would agree that RU scrums are competed at and still 90%+ of the time the feeding team get the ball.

you might as well have a full team of backs from 1 to 19 play fast expansive rugby and be done with it

Thank God for that, been trying to work out where this had come from all season. I'd never seen it before this year, oddly.

No the fact they are so rare means from my point of view that they do nothing to make the game any better as they are so hard to achieve,if you do it the other way the wingers will have to drop back more which will leave more space to attack and would make for a much more exciting game than the odd 40-20 The crowd cheer so much because they are so rare they would cheer more often if it was changed .
It would also mean the wingers would get more involved in games as well .
On the scrum point either put the ball in the middle or scrap them altogether.

Never going to happen

There's definately potential here for a job at Redhall.

Great site lads.

"But if that's the case lets do away with it all together or change it with a line out.
a lineout is easy to set and fast and to the point"



somebodys suggestion on here to "take lineouts from RU" just beggers belief.

Have they any idea what they are watching, while at it take knock-on, forward passes off-side as well from the dark side.

Other than marketing internationals off the pitch--- RL can learn nothing from RU.

I never realised how tactical lineouts were until I played Union.
One thing I think league lacks is a range of different skills, not that i'd advocate putting lineouts in league.
Almost every forward these days is called a 'ball playing' forward.
In union centres are centres, props are props and second rowers or Number 8s wouldn't be found out in the centres.

If you read Kevin Ashcrofts book "Last of the Dinosaurs" you get an insight as to how brutal real scrums were like back in the 1970s. Whereas, I would welcome a return to forwards looking like forwards and backs looking like backs, I'm not sure that I could support a return of the scrumaging from that era.

STAY AWAY FROM THE DARK SIDE




















Prop Forwards in yawnion are fat gits and wouldn't last 5 mins in RL Paliseinya could be a Yawnion prop he can't last 5 mins

It is a bit embarrassing and pointless to watch the scrums they way they currently are. Not sure what the solution is though.

Get rid altogether?

how about the forwards all oppose each other in parallel lines and for that play only, i.e. proceeding a knock on or ball in touch, tackles off the ball are allowed and forward passes are ok too, plus any number of interchanges to be allowed just before the play and immediately after

I thought the purpose of a scrum was to re-start the game after an error (forward pass, knock-on, etc) had been made. It would only seem fair that the side making the error has to "pay" by being dis-advantaged at the scrum.

So RL scrums are quick and the side that didn't make the error generally get the ball. Seems like that ticks all the necessary boxes.

Alternatively I was watching the Guiness Premiership (English RU top-flight) the other week on SKY and in frustration I timed a scrum from offence occurring to game re-starting. After 4 minutes of collasping scrums, the ref going from open to blind-side and back to see what was happening, touching and engaging the ball came out only for the loose-forward (no.

to knock-on at the base of the scrum and the ref call for another scrum: I swapped channels to Eurosport as the Nordic cross-country skiing looked far more entertaining.