The days of proper scrums are gone, i say bring them back - make both packs push for the ball, feed the scum in straight and not behind second row . And lets see a win against the feed .
Your thoughts !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You need to be a member of 1Eyed Eel to add comments!
Replies
It is basically a waste of time nowadays and unless they bring back the old way, I don't see a point in having them. May as well just get rid of it and let the team in possession get on with it by taking the tap.
I look at the scrum debate a bit like the flag debate... its probably not going to change, but always finds a way to pop up in conversation several times a year.
One of the things I cant stand about Union, is the constant re-pack and re-feed of scrums! It does nothing for the game as a spectacle, and likewise league.
Yes its not a proper scrum anymore, no-one would argue otherwise, but on the same note, no-one wants to go back to the days of scrum penalties and constant re-feeds. The game has moved on.
One day the scrum may cease to exist all together, but until such time we live with it. They will never go back to the days of "proper scrums" no matter how much some fans want it. Im happy for the old scrum era to remain in the past.
Maybe not in the exact way it was, some of those scrums were tedious at best. Instead of crumbling to the TV want of a faster game and proceeding to turn the scrums into a joke, the game could have made stiffer penalties for scrum infringements. An example would be; the 7 feeds into the 2nd row - penalty for first infringement, 5 min sin bin for that team for future infringements.. Or alternately, instead of a differential penalty, a goal could have become 4 points. Or a combination of both. I'm sure things like that would control scrum penalties to an extent and keep the game flowing.
Now look how bad the scrums are. The forwards don't even pack in any more..WTF! At a very minimum, if you are a member of the pack, you pack in! Yeah I agree that with half the team in the scrum it is a chance to attack but it rarely happens. That's because the scrum doesn't pack properly anyway and it's allowed to break away too quick.
Having just a tap is rather silly, it's a worse scenario than the current scrums. What, do you want touch footy? Next you will be calling for half the team to go off the field on a tap restart.
I agree with Darkhabitz on the stripping rule. I reckon if you can steal the ball and hold onto, good on ya. If you just rip it out and it hits the ground, different story. I don't want to see wrestling for the ball though, you have one shot and that's it.
The way it is now is basically the same as a tap except that both teams are wasting time getting set up for a scrum that isn't really a scrum.
If you are not going to allow the team without possession the chance to win back the ball in a 'proper' scrum, then why disadvantage them by having their players held up in a scrum where the ball can almost be guaranteed to stay with the team in possession.Atleast with a tap the defending team can be prepared...
I don't know, of course the team in possession deserves to have a greater chance to retain the ball than the team who has lost it but nowadays it is completely in favour of the team in possession and I just think if it can't be made a bit more even in the scrum, than do it in some other way.
I agree that the old scrums won't be back, but I also think that certain facets and traditions of the "OLD" game need to be retained. Look at all the things we now don't have... contested play the balls, ball stealers (used to be a required skill of hookers), real hookers for that matter, less and less of the talented nippy small men that run the big fellas ragged. My favourite, play to you drop or injured....I hate how many interchanges there are.
The tradition of Rah Rah is the only thing that game has over ours and I don't want to see anymore of it eroded here. I kinda hate the attitude of some refs where they won't penalise, because they don't want to slow the game down. If there is an infringement, pay the price I say! We already have certain sections of the media & coaches complaining about penalty kicks for touch putting teams on the back foot......simple answer to that, don't be penalised.
But my argument is that with the old scrum the team that has made a mistake has no chance of getting the ball back and the team in possession doesn't even have to try to keep it. Its a given that of they are feeding the scrum (if thats what you can call it) they will have the ball. There is no contest...
I am so sick of seeing the ball just thrown around one players leg and that is considered to have been a properly fed scrum...It's a joke the way it is now.
I would prefer that the 'old' scrum be reintroduced. Not so much the collapsing etc but just the requirement that the ball be fed in the middle. It would be a lot more enjoyable to watch the two teams battle it out to get possession of the ball.
-
1
-
2
of 2 Next