The Scrum

[Bill W (2)]

England v Australia - ref Joubert (SA). No scrum completed; all resulted in free kicks or penalties.

Scotland v New Zealand - ref D. Pearson (England). Scrums constantly reset to achieve competion.

Is this a difference in "interpretation"?

[Darc Tiger]

That, or the Aussies ducked every scrum.

[tigerbruiser]

In that case there is no point in picking props against the Aussies. Why not pick six back rows and just lean on them?

It was like watching 15 man RL at times.

[Yorkshire man]

That is taking it a bit far, to criticise one of the best games of rugby I have seen in a long time, never mind the quality England performance, just because there were only four scrums in the whole game. As scrums generally speaking come from errors, perhaps it was the least error strewn game any of us have ever watched. Don't get me wrong as an ex forward myself, I appreciate the value of the scrum, but dont be critical of a shortage.

You mighy comment next that it was an ex RL player who scored both Englands tries.

[fleabane]

Wales vs SA had a number of resets by Steve Walsh, who gave the impression he knew what was going on. Moore (BBC) complained it took 2 minutes on one occasion to get it right, although the ground underfoot was causing as much problem as the frtont rows.

You can't win!

[Big Dai]

Yes you can!

Ban the hit and come together like the good old days!

[Bill W (2)]

Yes you can!

Ban the hit and come together like the good old days!

Ah yes! I remember them well!

[tigerburnie]

Brian Moore said yesterday(I know he says it every week and in his sleep as well probably)but the put in to the scrum is never straight.
Remember the days when we all got excited when there was a heel against the head,can't recall the last time that happened.
The scrum is fine,it's the inability of the officials to enforce the required laws.Proper binding and a straight feed and you have it..........rugby union.

[Bill W (2)]

Remember the days when we all got excited when there was a heel against the head,can't recall the last time that happened.
.

You do get heels against the head - but nowadays they occur because the (defending) pack win the hit and push the side with the put in off the ball.

They used to occur because of sneaky work by the hooker and tight head. The absence of this today is marked by the lack of "foot up" penalties. There is no need for either hooker to strike because the ball is fed into the second row.

[Kinoulton]

Anyone else notice that everyone's favourite man Stuart Barnes made it into Private Eye's Pseuds Corner for his comment: "It's so hard, isn't it, this 'crouch, touch, pause, engage'? It's like a philosophical debate about the nature of time."

To be fair, I think he's been harshly ridiculed, as he was probably being ironic, and they also spelt his forname as 'Stewart'.

[Bill W (2)]

Anyone else notice that everyone's favourite man Stuart Barnes made it into Private Eye's Pseuds Corner for his comment: "It's so hard, isn't it, this 'crouch, touch, pause, engage'? It's like a philosophical debate about the nature of time."

To be fair, I think he's been harshly ridiculed, as he was probably being ironic, and they also spelt his forname as 'Stewart'.

No ridiculing of the rotund one is harsh!!!

[Big Dai]

I've been speaking with John Perkins (Pontypool and Wales) over a pint of Felin Foel Double Dragon on this one! He agrees. Ban the hit and bring back the penalty for charging.

I can't put all the things he said about skullduggery down on here! But my sides ache from laughing!

Good on ya Perky!

[Snorbins]

isnt the problem the commands and the last one to engage? the refs decide the time beteeen touch and engage.

[Bill W (2)]

isnt the problem the commands and the last one to engage? the refs decide the time beteeen touch and engage.

I think not. Crouch, touch, pause, engage even granted different lengths of pauses between pause and engage is not the problem. The problem is that at engage you are allowed to "hit". In days of old you folded neatly together and were not allowed to "hit" until the ball was put in.