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Regardless of the merits of any of these arguments it seems clear that we are going to have four tiers. Servo made his preference clear for each Super Rugby franchise to have an academy that will play against each other as the third tier. Club rugby will be the fourth tier. He took this...

Alright, KB (Kurtley Beale) out as my flyhalf and Godwin in. Need to catch up so I've also made Godwin my captain. Go the Force!

I'll give you the tip - Anae will come out comfortably on top of Ryan, as long as Slipper can find a way to hold Robinson.

Just checked on Folau - it is because he's been moved to outside backs when he was originally listed as a centre. I guess that means I have to use up a transfer to get him back in?

As you've probably all seen South Africa have introduced further new scrum laws which apply to all levels below the equivalent of 2nd grade in Shute Shield which effectively removes the power hit. Here's a link to the video explaining how it works for schoolboy rugby and non-professional senior...

So far it's been much better but we won't really know until we see a few more weeks of matches and with all teams playing.

I wonder if any of the refs will stuff up and use engage instead of set? Bet they've all been reciting the new call over and over to make sure they avoid that.

That covers it exactly.

Ash said: "Thanks for the replies Scott. Really interesting. Personally, so long as it is applied consistently I don't have a problem. The sad thing about no longer playing the game is that you miss out on these ref directives at the start of the season so stuff like this tends to come as a...

Scott Allen said: "The instruction is for the referees to call "Set" once both packs are steady. There is no engineering any penalty by delaying the "Set" call - if teams get stable quickly prior to engage, the "Set" call will come quickly - if they are not steady the call will not come until...

Sully said: "Couldn't agree more Lindommer Ho did we end up here. From something originally designed to protect us into something very dangerous and and dancing to the beat of a demented puppeteer. a blight on our game and fixed so very easily."

Lindommer said: ↑ "As a former referee and now spectator I think it's reprehensible referees engineer any sort of penalty at scrum time due to their vocal instructions. I couldn't give a shit about the SANZAR referees' guidelines on crouch/touch/set, especially they "mustn't set any sort of...

Done That said: "Ultimately the interpretation of the laws is up to the referees , whether it is those who are on the field , or those who direct them. It is up to them to interpret the laws in the way that best serves the overall interests of the game of Rugby. Rule changes are introduced...

RoffsChoice said: "If it was the front rows going down I'd feel like it was a bad thing. However, essentially every ref sets his pace for the scrum and then sticks with it. Early engage is entirely avoidable and if you've done it before, full arm is justified."

Braveheart81 said: "It seems alright to me. It stops the weaker scrum from doing it repeatedly trying to win the hit and make their scrum better than it is. This would seem to be something a weaker scrum could have taken advantage of on defensive scrums because they'd know that giving away a...

Scoey said: ↑ "Geez, I'm not sure I like that. That was a gift 3 points for what is a very subjective (at times) call. The next scrum we got a half arm for the Brumbies early engage and at the time I thought that was a get square for a harsh call from the ref because I certainly didn't think the...

Scott Allen said: "No longer up to the ref to escalate - it is now set that you only get one short arm in a match for early engagement, then it's full arm penalties from then on. This is a direction to all of the referees so we should see it in all matches. Lees looked like he was trying to...

Ash said: ↑ "Have they been instructed to very quickly escalate to penalty for early engagements as well? Noticed that Lees called a penalty against the Reds for their second early engagement, which was a full fourty minutes after the first. However, the way he did it was almost an...

Scott Allen said: ↑ "I have been to a number of pre-season sessions with Super referees present and they have been instructed not to call Set until they are satisfied the packs are still. There is to be no set cadence to the call and the referee will wait as long as necessary for the packs...

Froggy said: "At one point, Leeds said that he wasn't going to call the 'set' until both packs were still, and in his opinion, there was still movement when he was delaying the 'set' call. Now I don't know whether that's the instruction for the Super refs, or Just Leeds' interpretation, but it...