Scrum (rugby union)
"[2] Failing to bind properly results in a penalty, and the opposition team being awarded a free kick.
[3] "Openside" and "blindside" refer to the wide and narrow side of the pitch respectively, as scrums usually occur closer to one of the touchlines than the other.
On other occasions the forwards will hold the ball in the scrum by controlling it with their feet and try to gain ground by pushing the opposition backwards.
This is mainly for safety reasons, because if a scrum is not conducted properly there is a greater chance of injury.
The scrum must be stable, stationary and parallel to the goal-lines when they feed the ball; otherwise a free kick is awarded to the non-offending team.
Hookers are normally smaller than props so they may manoeuvre their lower bodies within the tight confines of the front row and tunnel.
Since props are more directly involved in wrestling for position and channelling the drive forward, strength and weight are of prime importance for them.
Locks are virtually always the tallest players on the team; they are used as the primary contestants for possession in another phase of the game, the line-out.
The two other major times when a scrum is called for is when someone is accidentally offside;[9] or when the ball is trapped in a ruck or maul with no realistic chance of it being retrieved.
The scrum feed goes to the team that did not offend, except in the case of the ball being trapped in a ruck or maul.
Pushover tries are rare, however, because scrums are awarded a minimum of five metres (16.4 ft) from either goal-line, and either touchline.
Scrums are one of the most dangerous phases in rugby, since a collapse or improper engage can lead to a front row player damaging or even breaking their neck.
[11] In this situation, the packs engage, but do not push, and the team that still puts the ball into the scrum must win it without effort.
In 2006, a leading consultant surgeon in the UK has called for the ban of contested scrums, asserting they are too dangerous.
The side awarded the scrum had one player put the ball on the ground and let go of it; there was no requirement of a tunnel.
A scrum would most commonly be awarded when a stalemate occurred between the player with the ball, who would declare "held", and opposition holding him, who would call "Have it down".
They adopted the "first up, first down" down method, with the first players to a scrum packing down in the front row and the rest of the forwards filling the remaining positions.
Although the 1905 All Blacks are often credited with introducing specialised scrum positions, the 1888-1889 New Zealand Native football team had in fact practised this.
[17] South Africans credit Springbok Fairy Heatlie for developing the 3-4-1 formation in 1901 at the Villagers Rugby Club in Cape Town, fellow Villager Paddy Carolin for applying it on the 1906 South African tour of Britain, and Stellenbosch coach "Oubaas Mark" Markötter for perfecting it afterwards.
[18][19] Under Markötter's instigation, and that of his protégé Danie Craven, South Africa had by 1949 perfected the 3-4-1 scrum formation.
Only the opposition scrum-half could move forward of that point, and all flankers had to stay bound unless they remained behind the hindmost foot of the scrum.
[21] Another rule change introduced allowed the number 8 or the rear-most bound forward to detach from a scrum with the ball, previously it could only be retrieved by the scrum-half.
[22] Opposing hookers gave up trying to hook for the ball and instead focused on adding power to the pack's drive.
The new rule fixed the distance between the front rows and as a result cut the force of impact from the engagement.
[25] In July 2009, the IRB authorised all of its member unions to adopt these changes in competitions that they completely control, and also allowed these changes in transnational club and provincial competitions (such as the Magners League and Super 14) with the permission of all unions involved.
[25] In March 2013, former England hooker Brian Moore wrote a scathing article on the BBC website about the state of scrums, in which he outlined his concerns that the rule changes had made things worse instead of better.
[22] Starting with the 2012–13 rugby season, the IRB issued trial law amendments, one of which affected the call sequence.
The referee continued to start with "crouch" and "touch," but then issued the command "set," which replaced "engage" as the indication that the packs may push forward.
