Creeping around the ruck

[Scott1]

For me the caterpillar is very easy to outlaw. Once the ruck is formed and the ball is there if there isn't an attempted counter ruck then no other player from the team shielding the ball is allowed to bind on. Easy to police imo and it needs to be gotten rid of!

And if there is, what then? Can I now join? Not so easy to legislate for unless you fundamentally change the game and say when the Ref calls "ruck" then everything freezes. I would like it to be got rid of (I'm not American)

It's not hard for the ref to see if there's a counter ruck,and there's always a small window before the opposition give up on the counter ruck (that's usually when the caterpillar starts growing) and the ref signals the scrum half to get a wiggle on. Like I said its very easy to police if the law was changed

[biffer]

Isn't there a clear defence against this? By doing it, Sarries are widening the ruck. The gate is the full width of the ruck. So as long as you are entering through the gate, you can clear these guys out.

[Cardiff Tig]

Isn't there a clear defence against this? By doing it, Sarries are widening the ruck. The gate is the full width of the ruck. So as long as you are entering through the gate, you can clear these guys out.

Surely the easiest defence is to pass to the 10/15 and let them clear it like the good old days, before all this faff just to box kick came in.

[daktari]

Isn't there a clear defence against this? By doing it, Sarries are widening the ruck. The gate is the full width of the ruck. So as long as you are entering through the gate, you can clear these guys out.

I thought this but if you check, the gate is defined by the player initially tackled

[chris111]

For me the caterpillar is very easy to outlaw. Once the ruck is formed and the ball is there if there isn't an attempted counter ruck then no other player from the team shielding the ball is allowed to bind on. Easy to police imo and it needs to be gotten rid of!

And if there is, what then? Can I now join? Not so easy to legislate for unless you fundamentally change the game and say when the Ref calls "ruck" then everything freezes. I would like it to be got rid of (I'm not American)

The idea of a law change to say that once a referee calls “ruck”, nobody else can join in until they call “ruck over” is an interesting one. Hard to work out what the consequences would be - but no doubt smart coaches would find always of taking advantage.