New scrums for Championship
SANZAR has announced that the changed setting of the scrum will after all be introduced into the Championship this year.
Originally it was said that the laws would be introduced on 1 August 2013 but not in the rest of Super Rugby or the Championship, in other words not in SANZAR rugby. South Africa was given permission to introduce them into domestic competitions on 1 July. Now they will include the Championship
That has not been changed.
The process of engagement has been changed from crouch-touch-set to crouch-bind-set. It is hope that in this way the hit will be less powerful, the distance at the engagement shorter and that in fact scrumming will start later and in a safer, more orderly fashion while not removing the need for strong, skilled props in the game.
In addition – let all lands rejoice and exult – the referees have been instructed to police more accurately the putting of the ball into the scrum. It is felt that with a less aggressive, more orderly engagement there will be an opportunity for a referee to watch the feed, that which, in reality, does not happen now.
The referees have also been instructed to see that the scrum is stable before the ball is put in.
The appointments to the Championship are made by the IRB and John Jeffrey, once a Scottish flank and now the chairman of the match officials section of the IRB, has given the guarantee that referees will be well prepared to handle the changed scrum engagement in the Championship matches.
The referees appointed are: Craig Joubert and Jaco Peyper of South Africa, Chris Pollock of New Zealand, Alain Rolland and George Clancy of Ireland, Jérôme Garcès and Romain Poite of France, Wayne Barnes of England and Nigel Owens of Wales
This is a summary of the scrum engagement requirements:
* Props will now be required to pre-bind before the “hit”, resulting in the scrum call being changed from “crouch, touch, set” to “crouch, bind, set”
* The front rows crouch and using their outside arm each prop must bind. A loosehead prop must bind on the opposing tighthead prop by placing the left arm inside the right arm of the tighthead and gripping the tighthead prop’s jersey on the back or side. A tighthead prop must bind on the opposing loosehead prop by placing the right arm outside the left upper arm of the opposing loosehead prop and gripping the loosehead prop’s jersey with the right hand only on the back or side. The props must not grip the opponent’s chest, arm, sleeve, or collar.
The scrum has for some time now been a problem. Efforts to change it to make it competitive but safer started with the spate of Catastrophic injuries in the 1980s. But the downside has been the time taken over scrums with collapses, resets, free kicks at penalties. One would think that the further one goes up the playing ladder the better the scrummaging will be because of the better calibre of player in critical positions. This is not necessarily so.,
The Test on Saturday in Sydney between Australia and the B&I Lions produced the following scrum statistics:
Scrums: 15
Collapses: 12
Resets: 7
Penalties: 7 (all against Australia)
Free Kicks: 2 (against Australia)
and a yellow card, against Australia.
One scrum started and ended in a single action,
The match between the Bulls and the Sharks in Super Rugby produced the following scrum statistics:
Scrums: 15
Collapses: 1
Resets: 0
Penalties: 0
Free Kicks: 0
