No pause

[Sully]

How come the ANZ Cup doesn't have a Pause in the Scrum?

 

[brokendown gunfighter]

have noticed that too
seems to have helped the engagment without it

 

[whocares]

I remeber during the RWC that the word came down from Paddy Obrien that they want the refs to quicken the engagement. It seems that no one really enforced it but they may have taken the next step in the ANZ cup but getting rid of it altogether.

 

[Scarfman]

Stupidest law ever. It made no logical sense, nevermind rugby sense. There IS a pause already between any two events that are not simultaneous. The CROUCH - TOUCHPAUSE - ENGAGE stage was just silly. Give it the bone.

 

[Thomond78]

The idea is to have the pause to prevent a scrum forming, crouching down and exploding straight into the engage from the crouch in a springing action. When you pause, you have to stop and stabilise it, leading to a better engage.

It was originally an Australian invention. Introduced in the mid 1980's to depower the engage and prevent neck injuries. It worked. I'll dig out the citations for the medical papers that led to it being introduced.

 

[Scarfman]

I get the touch but not the engage.

- The touch gets the guys closer, which is good.
- The pause gives them a chance to wind up.

I'm not a prop - the last time I got hauled into the front row I sang out "uncontested" in my best blouse voice - but it's clear that the engage has got heavier over the years. I'm all for depowering the engage, but I can't see how the pause helps.

 

[brokendown gunfighter]

the scrums cant engage until the ref's call anyway,so in effect they are already pausing

 

[Scotty]

The idea is to have the pause to prevent a scrum forming, crouching down and exploding straight into the engage from the crouch in a springing action. When you pause, you have to stop and stabilise it, leading to a better engage.

It was originally an Australian invention. Introduced in the mid 1980's to depower the engage and prevent neck injuries. It worked. I'll dig out the citations for the medical papers that led to it being introduced.

I think you missed the point Thommo. No one is suggesting that a pause should be removed from the scrum set up, but that by having the 'touch' you already automatically get a pause.

Couch - to set each side
Touch - they have to hault an immediate engagement to make the touch, and be close enough to do so
Engage - they aren't meant to engage until the ref says so, so as gunfighter says, there is already a pause here.

 

[Ash]

It (the touch) stops teams from delaying their crouch. A lot of pro teams used to commonly still be half standing up after the "crouch" call. They would then lower and launch themselves into the engage on "pause", to get around the whole purpose of the "pause" call.

 

[Thomond78]

It (the touch) stops teams from delaying their crouch. A lot of pro teams used to commonly still be half standing up after the "crouch" call. They would then lower and launch themselves into the engage on "pause", to get around the whole purpose of the "pause" call.

See? Someone else in the world gets it.

Not least because it's a savagely effective way to win the race to the middle, albeit murder on your back as a second row.

The pause is necessary, even with the touch, because what you do instead is touch, drop your hand down onto the deck getting an extra bounce/crouch and bounce up off it, using the arm swinging up and in to give you extra drive and momentum. The pause stops that bounce, which solves the problem.

 

[Pfitzy]

Yeah its kind of implied you're going to pause - I had a ref this year who had a fucking awful call. I'd come on to replace a front rower who picked up a yellow card, having played all of Second Grade, and thus missed the pre-game chat with the ref. It went a little something like this:

Crouchntouch
<0.5 seconds>
pausengage!

Which when all the refs were supposed to be Crouch - touch - pause - engage at regular intervals was a bit of a shock. Once I'd got the oppo TH's shoulder out of my spine the next few scrums weren't quite as big a shock

 

[waratahjesus]

the pause in my opinion stops the touch being used to grab ahold and pull the scrum down, i play all three positions in the front row and find especially at loosehead, the thp will hold on at touch and use you to hold themselves up during the engage, this makes it harder to stabalise, the pause actually allows you to rebalance your shoulders after the touch and makes a better engagement i reckon.

 

[Pfitzy]

Yeah I hate the pricks that don't let go after the touch - but the refs need to police it whether there is a pause or not. If a THP keeps hold after the touch in the first scrum of the game I'll make a point of telling the ref as soon as possible (within earshot of the THP in question). If the ref does nothing about it, I'll wait until their feed and pull his elbow downwards on the engage. See how he likes his head going into the deck. Not sure, but neither is hanging on.

 

[waratahjesus]

yeah, it shits me to death, the pause allows you to square up, i play forth grade so its even worse down there!!!
the pulling of the arms doesnt do me any favours, im not that good to start with!