I'm surprised he didn't say they are laws not rules, that what most people say when I make that heinous error

touché again

Very informative,I enjoy watching the ru six nations when Brian Moore waxes lyrically about the antics of the scrum and the tricks of the front row.
One of my pals was watching a recent tykes match with a senior ru referee, who was mystified at some of the scrum penalties being awarded by the referee.

Scrums are now so much more about how much power you can put into the initial hit and how long you can sustain it as well.

With increases in size and strength in the forwards, there's so much force going through that initial hit (even under crouch, bind, set) that it can be difficult for the props to control the bind. You've got a set of forces coming from the second rows behind you, and an opposing set of forces coming in the opposite direction. The second you lose your balance either your footing is going to go and the scrum collapses, or you're going to lose your bind just to try and stay on your feet.

The problem for the administrators is the entirely random way in which referees award penalties for scrum offences. I've seen sides who have been completely bossing the scrum area all game penalised for taking it down, when there's absolutely no reason for them to want to do so. Usually, it's because a player in the retreating scrum has done something to cause a collapse which the referee hasn't spotted and he's had to guess.

Talking to a West Park RU player and the same RU ref again today, regarding a recent game and they were both equally mystified re the decisions taken at many of the set scrums.

Some props used to cut the sleeve off their outside arm to prevent a bind from their opponent bck when they had baggy shirts, but now the skin tight shirts do add to the difficulty of binding properly. I completely agree regarding the massive amount of power going through the props now, it's pretty scary. The real problem is the one you highlight in your first sentence - the power through the initial hit. What they should be doing is taking the weight, they should only be pushing once the ball is put in. In this the laws didn't change, the scrum should not be moving when the ball is put in. What's been hapening is that hookers don't hook anymore, there's a hit then a drive and the pack walks over the ball as it's blatantly fead.
Under prevsious years laws (crouch, touch, pause, engage) the scrum was never still - the ball was going in right on engage. If they can get the scrum to be still before the ball comes in then there won't be the momentum of 8 massive guys moving as they engage and drive simultaneously. This should help reduce the power going throught the front row.

As I said, the difference in body position if you bind correctly is significant and massively improves the stability of the scrum. It also makes it more difficult for a prop to bore in as it squares up his shoulders.

I also agree that referees misunderstanding of why a scrum goes down and the desire of the people who run the game to avoid continuous resets has resulted in arbitrary penalty deceisions that make very little sense.

I should add that I only propped once in a club game and broke my knee when everyone apart from me in our scrum lost their footing and went rapidly backwards. I copped the full weight of a bunch of fat boys from St Albans on my straight left leg. They heard the crack in the clubhouse.

Ouch ...

I once had to sit on a guy for 20 minutes whilst physio at Bus Vale. He had split his knee cap and the ambulance took ages.

When I broke my tibia and fibula at Headingley RU, I was fortunate enough to be on the same pitch as two junior doctors doing their orthapaedics rotation at LGI. Timing

At my brother's club they have a 1st Team vs Vets full contact 80 min game at the end of every season, the Vets consisting of anyone who was unfortunate enough to be in the clubhouse when the captain, a rough tough Sth African who still thinks you are a wuss if you don't like the raw meat that he force feeds everyone from his braai at every fundraiser, comes around with his clipboard.

There has yet to be a year when someone doesn't get a serious injury and its usually on the Vets team and its usually ankles and knees from the head thinking that the body can still do things that time has prevented it from doing now - our kid did one of his knees in a couple of years ago just by stepping in a rut on a hard pitch - still its worth it to see every second scrum pause for the Vets front row to pass the cigarettes around.

I think the recent and new laws for the scrum encourage a dangerous big "hit" from each pack with a constant need to reset the scrums. I do not understand why they don't revert to the old laws that allowed the scrum to form in a stationary position with all binding correctly, and only when the ball is put in can the shove begin. I played a bit at scrum half and we used to have to say "ball coming in NOW" which was the signal for the hookers and pack to compete.

Not "technical" enough apparently.