Autumn internationals underway and yet again we're seeing yet more ridiculously bent scrum feeding. Clearly WR have instructed referees to do nothing when the ball is blatantly put in the second row - thereby fundamentally ignoring an established core law of our game. Completely unacceptable.
What makes it more galling is referees finding fault with anal minutia and then doing nothing about clear and obvious bent feeding. All the lame excuses offered by WR about it all being devilishly difficult is utter bunkum. To quote the words of respected pundit and former international Jonathan Davies, continual scrum dysfunction is 'killing the game'.
The number one cause of scrum dysfunction is...bent feeding. Evidence to prove the point is readily available. To see the massive difference between a proper functional scrum with straight feeding and a profoundly dysfunctional one, with chronic bent feeding, the footage of two games in RWC 2015 are very revealing.
First game is the unforgettable SA v Japan. Pick out any scrum you like where Japan have the put in. What happens next is what correct scrummaging and straight feeding can produce - and what 0.5 seconds looks like! That's the time it takes for the ball to leave the 9's hands, be heeled in channel 1 and out the back of the scrum - and watch what they do with the fast ball they've produced...
Then compare it with Italy v France - a dreadfully tedious match dominated by penalties. Not many scrums survive the referee's whistle, but when they do, the most excruciating bent feeding results in the momentumless ball hanging about just behind the front row's feet. The locks can't get their feet far enough forward to channel the ball back - and the scrum has no forward momentum. An interminable 26 seconds later the ball eventually emerges - by then 40% of the crowd have fallen asleep, started a crossword or taken up knitting! And what do they do with the ball...! Nothing - it's so slow it's impossible to use and not worth having.
Referees have no coherent reason to ignore the law that requires the ball to go in straight. Yet they do - it's clearly something that WR have instructed. People within WR with significant influence in the application of the game's laws clearly hold the myopic view that the abhorrent mess we have to endure with scrums is acceptable. How can this mind numbing aboration be acceptable to anyone?
It's time that we - true rugby enthusiasts called these faceless people to account for making such an outrageous pig's ear of one of the key core aspects of our game.
What makes it more galling is referees finding fault with anal minutia and then doing nothing about clear and obvious bent feeding. All the lame excuses offered by WR about it all being devilishly difficult is utter bunkum. To quote the words of respected pundit and former international Jonathan Davies, continual scrum dysfunction is 'killing the game'.
The number one cause of scrum dysfunction is...bent feeding. Evidence to prove the point is readily available. To see the massive difference between a proper functional scrum with straight feeding and a profoundly dysfunctional one, with chronic bent feeding, the footage of two games in RWC 2015 are very revealing.
First game is the unforgettable SA v Japan. Pick out any scrum you like where Japan have the put in. What happens next is what correct scrummaging and straight feeding can produce - and what 0.5 seconds looks like! That's the time it takes for the ball to leave the 9's hands, be heeled in channel 1 and out the back of the scrum - and watch what they do with the fast ball they've produced...
Then compare it with Italy v France - a dreadfully tedious match dominated by penalties. Not many scrums survive the referee's whistle, but when they do, the most excruciating bent feeding results in the momentumless ball hanging about just behind the front row's feet. The locks can't get their feet far enough forward to channel the ball back - and the scrum has no forward momentum. An interminable 26 seconds later the ball eventually emerges - by then 40% of the crowd have fallen asleep, started a crossword or taken up knitting! And what do they do with the ball...! Nothing - it's so slow it's impossible to use and not worth having.
Referees have no coherent reason to ignore the law that requires the ball to go in straight. Yet they do - it's clearly something that WR have instructed. People within WR with significant influence in the application of the game's laws clearly hold the myopic view that the abhorrent mess we have to endure with scrums is acceptable. How can this mind numbing aboration be acceptable to anyone?
It's time that we - true rugby enthusiasts called these faceless people to account for making such an outrageous pig's ear of one of the key core aspects of our game.