Law discussion: A luta continua

The promise of better things at scrums after what happened in Perth and Dublin the week before last has well and truly disappeared this week with yet another round of ugly, dangerous scrumming.

The match in Canberra was a case in point. There was the same referee that there had been in Perth and one of the teams, the Force, was the same, but the outcome was horribly different.

Perth - Force vs Hurricanes: 16 scrums, 2 collapses, 4 resets, 1 penalty, 1 free kick, 10 natural completions

Canberra - Brumbies vs Force: 12 scrums, 11 collapses, 7 resets, 5 penalties, 0 free kicks, 3 natural completions.

That is a huge difference. The most obvious cause is the replacement of the Hurricanes by the Brumbies, but that may well be an oversimpliciation.

Then the match between the Reds and the Waratahs in Brisbane was even worse - with more collpases than scrums awarded - 19 collapses for 15 scrums. One scrum, late in the second half, took 3 minutes 43 seconds, 4,6% of the match.

Clearly it is in the hands of the players to scrum legally and in their interests to keep the scrum up.

Scrum Outcomes, Round 4

Chiefs vs Highlanders: 19 scrums, 12 collapses, 5 resets, 4 penalties, 2 penalty tries, 0 free kicks,7 natural completions

Brumbies vs Force: 12 scrums, 11 collapses, 7 resets, 5 penalties, 0 free kicks, 3 natural completions

Blues vs Lions : 24 scrums, 11 collapses, 9 resets, 4 penalties, 2 free kicks, 12 natural completions

Reds vs Waratahs: 15 scrums, 19 collapses, 10 resets, 6 penalties, 3 free kicks, 3 natural completions

Cheetahs vs Bulls: 13 scrums, 6 collapses, 5 resets, 5 penalties, 2 free kicks, 3 natural completions

Stormers vs Sharks: 19 scrums, 7 collapses, 7 resets, 5 penalties, 0 free kicks, 10 natural completions

Totals: 102 scrums, 66 collapses, 43 resets, 29 penalties + 2 penalty tries, 7 free kicks, 38 natural completions

Average for 6 matches: 17 scrums, 11 collapses, 7 resets, 5 penalties, 1 free kicks, 6,3 natural completions

Better than average: Chiefs vs Highlanders, Blues vs Lions, Cheetahs vs Bulls, Stormers vs Sharks

Best: Stormers vs Sharks

Worst: Reds vs Waratahs

The most obvious times for scrums to collapse are the first scrum of the match, scrums five metres from the line and when substitutions are made. Those are times when front-row players are intent on establishing physical superiority. Such dominance must be legally won.

But there were blessings last weekend - no homemade penalties for scrums that stand up or scrums that wheel. But look at the penalty stats - 31 out of 102 scrums. That means that roughly 30% of scrums became penalties. That is at a set piece - one that is organised and controlled. Imagine if that happened at tackles to the same extent. In the six matches over the weekend there were 1296 tackles made, and tackles are far more unstructured than scrums. If there was the same proportion of penalties for scrums there would have been 389 penalties, an average of 65 per match. Wouldn't that be fun!

Scrums are a great place for a real contest on the rugby field; they just have to be done leaglly.,

In the Stormers vs Sharks match, the Sharks scrumhalf, Cobus Reinach put the ball in straight the first three times and the Sharks lost those three scrums. After that he behaved like the rest, putting the ball in skew, and the Sharks did not lose another tighthead even though they were outscrummed.

By Paul Dobson

@rugby365com