Well, Got back from the ref school pretty late last nite... The whole presentation shouldnt last more than 2 hours but the discussion was horribly long! I guess you would never want to be in a room full of refs at any time! lol.. anyway, all this thing about the new law that i've learnt if any from last nite...
The obvious "Crouch! Touch! Pause! Engage!!" calls will now be used by refs, this is a definite safety feature for scrums as it will deny the ability to charge in a scrum and obviously depowers it slightly.
1. In "Crouch" referees will now wait until both teams are ready to say "Crouch!" Unlike in many old cases where the refs will immediately say "Crouch and Hold!" refs will have to make sure all are ready before calling "Crouch"
2. In "Touch!" the 4 props must touch their opponent's shoulder, and RETRACT their arms IMMEDIATELY, failing to do so will result in Free Kick...
3. "Hold" will be called AFTER the props touch and let go...
4. "Engage" will obviously follows... and as what they say, "it is not a command but a signal that the front rows may engage" which i think is utter ********... it is a command!!! hahaha...
Another thing about the new scrum laws... there will be A LOT of free kicks around scrummage, and only 2 penalties...
the 2 being Charging (front row retracting after touch and engages) and Incorrect Binding by front rows (to de-stabilise the scrum)
One thing they emphasise so much last nite is that these laws are done to ensure SAFETY... which i think makes sense... well, that is all from me for now... hope this clears a lot of doubts...