The Law is an Ass
The All Blacks leaders, Graham Henry and Richie McCaw, nominate laws they would like to see changed. Mark Reason asks what law would you like to see scrapped?
Reason: What law most annoys you, Richie?
McCaw: The thing that frustrates the hell out of me is when you’ve got a really good scrum and the opposition half back nips in and disrupts your ball. They stick their foot in, they shave a hand in, they give you a nudge and they’re usually offside anyway. It’s so frustrating. It’s purely negative and stops the attacking side getting clean ball. I would change the law to stop the scrum-half advancing beyond the halfway point of the scrum.
Reason: But us pesky half-backs like being pesky. Oh well. What about you, Graham?
Henry: We have to get consistency of refereeing at the tackle area. The Northern Hemisphere refs allow the tackling side more leeway to compete, southern hemisphere refs favour the attacking side. Why can’t we clean this area up?
My other demand is that refs ensure that the three front rowers push square with their heads above their hips. Too often the tight head is allowed to bore in on the hooker, the loosehead has nowhere to go, puts a hand on the ground and gets penalised. But he has nowhere to push. If we went back to folding the front rows in and eliminated the hit, it would make it easier for referees to make sure they were square.
Reason: I would like to see the height of the tackle lowered. Too many players are getting injured, particularly at junior level. What about all of you out there, who play and watch each week, what laws would you change?
Posted under News & Opinions
almost 2 years ago
I’m with GH on this – eliminate the hit and you eliminate most of the time wasting of scrums. Front rows bind and go down, followed by second rows, followed by back row. Scrum steadies, ball goes in, shove etc. The current fiasco sounds like the refs are doing the old "I, state your name … " thing where people blindly repeat the instruction – I’m sure “pause” was originally meant to be an instruction to the ref to pause, not something he should actually say. It just sounds retarded.
almost 2 years ago
Couldn’t agree more. The scrum has developed into a complete shambles and from its original purpose to restart the game it has descended into a farce that consumes a ridiculous amount of time in almost every game. Getting the front rows to come together and allow for a stable, square on base before the second and back rows bind on would eliminate this nonsensical “hit” that’s developed and reduce the number of collapses that we see these days. I’m sure that we didn’t collapse that many scrums when I played. Mind you GH and WS were at infants school when I packed up playing!
about 1 year ago
There is nothing in the laws about taking or not taking a hit. The nearest bit of law there is says that charging in is illegal. Crouch Touch Pause Engage – is not negotiable, and it must be consistent. Referees who are the clearest in their engagement procedure have less trouble with scrums
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