Personally I want to keep scrums.
It is a traditional part of the game. It gives the players a break on an already fast game.
Still keep the shot clock and I'd add that if you want to stop the clock by forming the scrum, the platers in the scrum when clock is stopped must stay in when play starts

In reply, you scoff but to be fair RL has been changing the rules consistently since it began. If we hadn’t you’d be watching RU, is that what you want? Yes we get it wrong at times and in recent years it’s been a bit to often but all the same it drives the game.



To me RU is a game for nerds who love rules and regulation, RL is for those who wish to be entertained. With that comes an element of dumbing down or simplification depending how you see it but it’s still way better than kick and clap.

Not sure if anyone has mentioned speeding up the game, most comments are around scrums not really being missed and how not having them, may help RL with its own identity.
I think there is work to be done on how to allow some breaks in play. The current situation with the "shot clock" counting down while the markers deliberately wait doesn't look great but, lets face it, scrums have been a joke in all of the 40+ years that I've been watching.
EVERY scrum is "fed" (in both League and Union) so, what's the point.

I don't share your view on Union. Its a great game to play steeped in history with a great social scene attached to it. It is marketed perfectly and has a massive international following.
And rugby has Laws not Rules.

It's just different to League. I far prefer league to watch but Union is enjoyable too.
Having more complex rules doesn't make it for nerds.

I think scrums should go but shot clock time reduced too

Agree with both paragraphs, particularly the second, up to a point, but it seems to me that there appears to be a rule change at the start of every season with particular emphasis on "speeding up the game". At what point does rugby league become not rugby league anymore.. I've been watching rl since the mid-fifties and ,yes, the game has speeded up a hell of a lot but in my eye it does not make it any more of an exciting spectacle than it was 65 years ago. The winning of the scrum was an integral part of the procedure of the game; we still had the speed and excitement of a winger going full tilt for the line, and the ducking and weaving of the no. 6 and no.7. I think possibly one of the the biggest differences between the game of today and yesteryear is the fitness of the players. The game today just seems to be a case of what the Aussies do today we have to (try and) do tomorrow.

People bang on about player welfare and yet we are just doing everything that we can to speed the game up even more, I understand that they are professional athletes but the game is fast enough as it is without many breaks. It`s funny how quickly agendas change, it was only a few years back they the RFL introduced water breaks every 15/20 minutes in a game after the tragic death of Danny Jones, that quickly went out of the window.

For me, we can go too far on speeding the game up, along with this; wrestling (I understand you can argue that goes against the pace of the game comment) that has come in in the last 7/8 years - I understand the game has developed and the wrestle is probably here to stay but it is certainly becoming a bigger part of the game, some clubs are even looking at floor work (Training BJJ) and how they incorporate that into there defence, when you watch the Oli Holmes/Myler situation a couple of weeks ago, this is a prime example. I sometimes watch games from 10 years ago and think it was so much more enjoyable to watch.

I will be honest, I have stopped watching any rugby union at all on the basis I just don`t understand the rules, especially when it comes to the ruck and what is and isn't allowed.

Just a point on the wrestling as well, the clubs aren't at fault, it is effective but I think somewhere along the line RFL need to draw a line just like the NRL should have done years ago with Melbourne, now it seems too late for them to bring in any restrictions on there wrestle as every club in the league is at that level.

Laws.

I was captain of a team and had to check with the ref what my options were when there was an infringement at the lineout. I got some dirty looks from the life long Union boys

I do agree with the player welfare statement though Homme V.
We are not playing basketball. There is a limit to how fast the play should go if we want to see big impacts and players staying fit.
7s is fun to watch but it isn't the main game because it lacks the structure and intensity. That's what speeding the game up does.

contested scrums for me but it wont happen
The union scrum has also become farce rarely won against the feed today