Front Row Replacements

bedfordwelsh wrote:why don't teams just take a back off and leave the actual backrower on, is this allowed?

(n)

After a front row player leaves the field of play or is sent off, or during the time for which a front row player is temporarily suspended, the referee, upon awarding the next scrum, will ask the player’s captain whether or not the team has another player on the playing area who is suitably trained and experienced to play in the front row. If not, the captain chooses another player on the playing area who then must leave the playing area to be replaced by a suitably trained and experienced front row player from the team’s replacements. The captain may do this when the scrum is ordered or after another player has been tried in the front row.

(o)

When a period of temporary suspension ends and a front row player returns to the playing area, the replacement front row player leaves the field of play and the nominated player who left the playing area for the period of suspension may resume playing in the match.

(p)

If a front row player is temporarily suspended and the replacement player is sent off, the temporarily suspended front row player may return to the playing area after the period of suspension but the player who was nominated to leave the playing area must not return to the playing area for the duration of the match except as a substitute or replacement for another player.

(q)

If a front row player is temporarily replaced and the replacement player is sent off, the temporarily replaced player may return to the field of play at the time the next scrum is awarded after the sending off providing it is within 15 minutes (actual time) from the time the player left the playing area. The captain of that team chooses another player on the playing area who then must leave the playing area.

Gooseberry wrote:Griff
Your right I was talking crud above there is an exemption for when teams are short of on field players. They can opt for a short handed scrum. What they cant do is reduce it by more than the number of off field players, and the opposition retain the choice of whether they go short handed or not. Brain fart.

Maj
They dont let a team force uncontested scrums through a player being off because this can reward the penalised team. or you get teams like Wasps whos entire front row and replacement bench comes down with injuries severe enough to keep them off the field but not the playoff final after party to enable them to have an extra flanker and avoid the scrums they were getting killed in. Theyve upped the benches to 23 to make sure theres always a specialist front row available. If teams are worried about being a pack member down they should probably avoid tripping opposition ball carriers. Or biting them. Or any of the million other nasty things front rows seem to like to do.