And some more interesting law change suggetions from SA refs.
http://www.sareferees.com/News/possible-law-changes/2830490/
Thanks for posting that.
There's a lot of good stuff there including a few things tried in the ARC but did not go further. I'm glad that the suggestions came from the Republic and not from Oz Land; they may get legs in the NH that way.
The allowance of hands in the ruck is one from the ARC. No hit on the set - good luck with that - but I hope it gets up. The current hit (set) is not as destablising as the power hit but if left alone will get back to the bad old days and people will wonder why scrums are still going down.
The abiding matter that should be worried about more than tweaks to the laws or another bout of clarifications or rulings is to enforce the compliance of referees to a few key items which are already law.
As I see it, these two are the key matters:
Feeding the ball into the scrum straight. If this not possible because the tunnel is compromised before the ball is introduced to the scrum, by legs moving around, or whatever, the reason for that has to be addressed first, without mercy.
It was the poor tunnel that gave rise to the crooked feed to the clear space behind the hooker's feet; one couldn't blame the scrummies.
How was the tunnel corrupted over 20 years? Instead of enforcing the law that there should be no push in the scrum before the ball was thrown in, referees allowed the early push (later the power hit) which meant they had to allow the crooked feed.
Madness.
Staying on feet at ruck time - One of the articles mentions stapling. Whatever you call it the players are leaving their feet.
This was always illegal, yet as the the years have gone by you can see supporting players going in lower and lower with no possibility of staying up.
There was a crack-down on the matter in the Super 12 in the early 2000s and it lasted three weeks as I recall. If I remember correctly one of my favourite referees ever, Peter Marshall, didn't even bother to comply. He probably thought that the crack-down had no chance and, if so, he was right.
Today's referees have a horrid legacy inherited from their fathers and grandfathers. Their forebears tried to speed the game up by being lenient to attackers who charged in low to defend their ball—attack was good thought the refs—but defenders retaliated and the game was slowed down.
Just as scrums need height, so do rucks. The players have to be forced into playing within a new paradigm, and in order to do that the referees have to change also.
It is time for their World Rugby minders to make the referees go back up the wrong path they have been on and go down a new one.
On their feet.
.