What's wrong with scrums?

[Flamethrower]

Maybe they could record the best Ref saying " crouch, touch, pause, engage" and then all the other Ref's could listen to it each night till they get it right.

[Ecky]

Ok I got F'd up. What I meant was after the "pause" they go when they like. Not what Ecky is saying but certainly appears to be the law being followed. Am I right or am I blowing hot air again?

Um, what?

I'll concede this (again): It seems the players are not really waiting for the ref to call "engage" before so doing. But one or two free kicks for early engagement should sort that out. The refs on the telly seem to have a fair bit of tolerance to it though. I bet their assessors marks them harshly for it. It'd be interesting to see if a ref who allowed engagements before the call during one game then start dishing out the free kick the following game.

Funnily enough, a referee coach mate of mine came up with the self same theory (about the new skin-tight jerseys being a factor) last week. I shall try to raise these issues with the ref for Friday's match. Meeting him a day or so prior. Stand by, fellow TWF-ers...

[shasta]

Ok I got F'd up. What I meant was after the "pause" they go when they like.

It's not working because of the "pause.......engage", Each ref is slightly different in timing. I'm pretty sure a lot of the whistleblowers are not clear on exactly what they need to achieve. I understand it's only to get the 2 scrums closer prior to the hit so maybe it should be just "Crouch, touch, engage"

I also think that maybe the tactic of the 8 leaning back from the scrum and then charging in on engagement is causing some problems for the front row.

[frontrow]

The thing is, with the pause, that one of the teams will try to beat the other to the engagement so they can gain an advantage by being first to the shove, even before the ball is put in, which is also a penalty, but it happens a lot...Every now and then it gets policed but mostly the ref calls for a new scrum giving the benefit of the doubt to the offending team...Crouch touch engage would probably work, but the same thing will happen...Basically the pause should stay for safety sake if nothing else...

[chook]

Not enough resets. The more resets we get the longer the game will go on without any action, and that has to be a good thing, in my book.

[Happy]

Funnily enough, a referee coach mate of mine came up with the self same theory (about the new skin-tight jerseys being a factor) last week.

easily tested - get a team to scrum at training with tight and with loose jerseys and see if it does make a difference .. to ten reps of each and note the results.

[shasta]

The thing is, with the pause, that one of the teams will try to beat the other to the engagement ...................
.....................Crouch touch engage would probably work, but the same thing will happen...Basically the pause should stay for safety sake if nothing else...

But isn't safety the reason for the "touch", to bring the 2 FR's closer and lessen the power generated at the engagement?

Maybe if they went C - T - E would work OK if they gave a little more time on the "Crouch" call to make sure they are both set.

[Happy]

i think we've all agreed at some stage it is all three of those shasta!!

[shasta]

i think we've all agreed at some stage it is all three of those shasta!!

Yeh, your right, forgot the rest of the thread. .

I was trying address the part about not bothering to have the "Pause" call.
Editing done

[Burgs]

The props look like over stuffed sausages.....or me....in those body huggers anyway and probably scare the children, perhaps the three props should be made to wear classic jersey's suited to scrumming?

[frontrow]

I agree burgs, it isn't like they are getting any streamline benefit, except for boof...