What Will/Can the IRB DO ?

Having watched our game at Murrayfield and watching the game in Dublin,the scrum is destroying the game as a joy to watch.
Walsh appears at the moment to be much better than Joubert at reffing it BUT it must be very offputting to the casual.

Make it passive like rugby league, basically Union kind of is doing everything like League did when it went professional. were talking about making it a summer game, the defense lines are now very similar etc.

Shifty wrote:Make it passive like rugby league, basically Union kind of is doing everything like League did when it went professional. were talking about making it a summer game, the defense lines are now very similar etc.

That is the way the sport is going

@shifty and London Tiger-BUT THATS NOT OUR GAME

apparently at lower levels here in NZ the props are grabbing the opposing props' jersey or arm beforehand so the collision is less and it's resulting in less collapsed scrums

why did the scrum change in the first place?

Stop over refereeing it, ffs no ref i know of ever played 1-3. Crouch touch set, ball goes in, if it collapses re set for original put in. if no succesful put in after 2 attempts freekick to original put in side.

The IRB has to have a drains-up on the whole law book.

What they've always done is just tinker around in a fire-fighting panic. So they cobble together new laws designed to salve symptoms rather than cure underlying sicknesses.
Goddammit, they advise referees to ignore the laws and provide training videos which instruct them to validate actions which run counter to the wording of their own legislation.

It's a joke. No wonder scrums collapse, no-one can agree on the pick'n'mix breakdown laws and the welt is being stripped from the ball in aerial bombardments.

Whenever this topic comes up I always post this link. Newport v Pontypool 1992. Why can't we go back to this scrummaging? See the video from 30 seconds in. The teams have to form the scrum first before pushing, and only push when the ref has got the scrum set and says to put the ball in. The strong scrummaging team still has an advantage, nothing is taken away from them, but there is no 'hit' so little chance of a collapse.

https://youtu.be/Ksa2rKcKf8c

On a side note, 13,000 for a midweek game at Rodney Parade! Those were the days!

Griff at last someone endorsing what I have been preaching for years.
Allow players to disengage for planned back row moves as of yore,and clamp down on squint feeds.
NOW all we need is the full wheel back,lifting inthe Lineout banned and the return of the classic RUCK

Referees are naive and not made accountable enough for their actions.

The top tier referees are riddled with Ineptitude, Inaccuracy, Inconsistancy and a lack of empathy for the players, the game they are adjudicating and maybe most importantly the FANs.

It has to change.

I disagree that the Laws are at fault. The game and its set pieces are not at fault either. The game in many ways is simplified by modern refereeing, but it those qualities I mention above that are lacking.

Then explain to me why referees are at least encouraged if not directly instructed to ignore the laws.

The law book could be cut by at least 10% and many of the aggravations of the modern game could be ameliorated by simplifying back to a simpler and original set of instructions.

Especially at the scrum and the breakdown.

Agree with griff and emack, form the scrum as in uncontested scrums but shove on ball going in. Then you can enforce straight put ins and hookers have to start doing their job again. It's not rocket science is it? Any idea of going down the League road should be dismissed out of hand. I have plenty of League friends who wish they still had proper scrums.

Plus you'd see the re-emergence of the lost art of hooking.

Can't recall any time in my life when RL had anything resembling 'proper' scrums.

GT, I am 67 so maybe you can't but I can. They weren't very good at it which is probably why it changed.

Above all, the farts at the IRB need telling it's our game not theirs and if they are too senile to think straight they should just bugger off and let those who can take over.

I noticed irb@irb.com is their email address (got it off the website) perhaps we could all email them and see what response we get

Good idea. Anyone else going to do it? I will be later today.

aitchw wrote:GT, I am 67 so maybe you can't but I can. They weren't very good at it which is probably why it changed.

Above all, the farts at the IRB need telling it's our game not theirs and if they are too senile to think straight they should just bugger off and let those who can take over.

You've got five years on me then H. All I can ever recall is a human bivouac affair into which the scrum half chucked a ball to the rear.

Yeah, those were the ones! Like I said, they weren't very good at it.

aitchw wrote:GT, I am 67 so maybe you can't but I can. They weren't very good at it which is probably why it changed.

Above all, the farts at the IRB need telling it's our game not theirs and if they are too senile to think straight they should just bugger off and let those who can take over.

Too right. We know how to make scrums work as we had working scrums for a long time... get rid of the hit, and the daft shirts that are hard to grip and most likely it's problem solved.