The scrum. You know you love it.

[dru]

This thread is inspired by a Derpus query on the referee thread - starting with my response. I'm expecting that the guys who actually know dig in quickly to correct my lack of experience.

Here is one thing though. Every Reds or Wallaby scrum on the screen is supported by my grunts as I get my weight behind the front row. I don't think it is strange in any way, that so many props and hookers have become head coaches. And almost as good, surgeons.

Dig in with love of the scum, right here.

 

[dru]

<initially this post was responding to the difference between hinging and losing your feet>

OK. I never played front row, never coached, completely couch coach. Still.

Generally losing your feet is because you've gone in to the hit with your body too low, your feet too far behind you, so you hit and drop. It looks like a plank hitting the ground and the body is flat. Your beer belly hits the ground at the same time as you face-plant.

A hinge is where you might be too close at the hit and you can't take the pressure after the hit. It looks like your arse in the air as you face plant. Face plant with your arse in the air.

Seems to me to be different.

I'd add... Losing feet is possibly because you don't naturally have the strength to beat your opponent so you are maximising what you can get in the hit from gravity and good basic structure. But you've overdone it. Hinging is either a basic lack of really being on your game (happens more as guys tire), or over confidence in your strength to wrestle.

Umm, that is so belligerently insufficient it feels silly, but it sets my thoughts on things.

A LHP is going to want to wrestle. A THP is going to want to hold tight to his form, and if he's good enough target the hooker as the scrum pressure mounts. LHP it seems to me more likely to hinge, THP more likely to lose feet. Hell, guaranteed that the stats don't back me up, but the props themselves have something to do with it.

Let's take scrummaging further. In the second row (4) getting pressure behind a LHP only goes so far, because the bloke is trying to wrestle. The pressure helps, but it is possibly not where the dark arts lie. The second Row (5) behind the THP is key. You want utter push to immediately add to the weight coming from the THP. So, comparatively speaking, dynamic rower behind the LHP, big muscle bound over-sized rower behind the THP.

Breakaways are chosen for different reasons, but they also balance the weight from the row into the props. And the lock (8) ties the schmozzle together.

The scrum is actually a very exciting thing to behold. imvho.

 

[dru]

I love the scrum so much, perhaps I am getting to overdo it tonight? Mayhaps.

But there are some basics not mentioned until now:
1. The LHP pushes against one individual, the opposing THP. This gives room for mischief.
2. The THP pushes against two individuals, the opposing LHP and hooker. He needs to be strong, like a LHP is strong but a THP needs to be more and to be able to hold it together.
3. The THP role is often described as "technical" which I have always thought as funny. My take is what this means is getting your drive right for core body strength to hold tight. The LHP can move more. So shenanigans is the game for a LHP. Yes a THP can do dark arts, but it is more likely to be initiated from the LHP. Likewise, the hooker aught understand the game, and work out when to drive with the THP and when to give the LHP a bit of flex.

Up front, where the ref tells the front row, that he wants them high and close - what he is doing is trying to de-power the scrum. (No not the scrum itself but de-power the hit and the initial pressure build.) A good THP is going to want to get low and get his drive going. (How much can the ref be tested?) A good LHP might be quite happy with the ref's instructions and go for the wrestle.

It's a fascinating battle.

 

[Strewthcobber]

Brian Moore wrote a great guide to how he thought the scrum should be reffed here

Managing the Scrum

Before you all roll your eyes, I was asked to do this by another bored member. The things i assert are, from my experience, those which will minimise trouble at the scrum; they will not stop all collapses because they can occur accidentally and some props cannot resist the urge to cheat...

forum.rugbyrefs.com

It's a bit out of date with law changes etc, but dramatically improved my understanding of the scr when I read it all those years ago

 

[Sword of Justice]

Strong agree Dru. The rugby public has become convinced that what is a strength of the game is actually a weakness. I think there are a few refs and possibly a few law interpretations that undermine the spectacle occasionally. All that would be needed is to ref the contest in such a way that rewards keeping it up more. Getting pushed back is generally blown up as a pen way too early these days. It’s not against the law to be beaten.