Law discussion: Prop suicide

Are prop forwards in the process of committing suicide, of making such a constant mess that they are in danger of being written out of the game?

After all, the scrums fall down so often that people become irritated at a time when it often seems, the most important part of the game is its entertainment value. Falling scrums are not entertaining.

Falling scrums are also dangerous.

So the scrums need to stay up, and the people most frequently in the spotlight are referees.

Reset, and they are slowing the game and lack the courage of their convictions. Penalise, and what do they know, as the penalised prop trudges away shaking his head in disbelief. Comments include the suggestion that referees need to consult experts to get to know what goes on in the scrum.

In fact there is no part of the game that referees concentrate on more than the scrum, nowhere in the game where they seek as much help and advice.

But then the referees are not the ones who fall down in the scrum. Those who do so are normally in the front row of the scrum. It is the duty of those six players to keep the scrum from falling. In fact the task falls mainly to the four props.

To be props they have sturdy builds – short men, not especially fast or skilled but strong. They help to make Rugby Union football a game with the virtue of having a place for all shapes and sizes – the tall, the short; the heavy, the light; the fast, the slow; the skilled and those with limited skills. The physical demands on a prop create places for that kind of man who might not make it at any other form of football.

He has other jobs, like supporting a jumper, cleaning out at a tackle, driving with the ball in hand. But he is uniquely designed to be a prop, one of the most loved of rugby men. You do not have to be built like a prop to do the other things but you must be built like a prop at scrum time.

Modern rugby has fewer scrums than in days when players passed more and kicked less, resulting in scrums for knock-ons and forward passes. But even though they are fewer, scrums remain important partly because of the way they affect morale.

Over the weekend past, Bath played Glasgow Warriors and during the match the commentator said: "Just about every scrum we have seen today has been a penalty. We've got to see the ball come in and come out as it's meant to. It's happened once or twice. But we have the problem in every single game. We've got a phase that's fundamentally just not working in every game we watch – a major part of the game that just doesn't work."

The man who said that was Andy Nicol, the former Scottish captain. There was the uncomfortable hint that radical change was needed to get rid of the collapsed scrum and radical change could affect those who do the scumming and collapsing – the props.

Scrums have in many ways been devalued. The crooked feed seldom is rarely sanctioned and foot-up has ceased altogether to be sanctioned – two infringements in earlier times that could mean the winning or losing of a match. The wheel is being exorcised. Then the fire of a scrum contest is on the way to being doused.

In the match between Clermont and Saracens, there were 14 scrums. That's all – just 14.

This a synopsis of what happened.

In one scrum the ball came in and came out without anything untoward happening. One scrum collapsed but the ball was allowed to come out.

Scrums: 14

collapses: 13

Resets: 7

Penalties: 6

Free kicks: 2

At 14 scrums, twice the ball emerged but on 28 occasions there was some other intervention.

That's monstrous.

In the match that Nicol spoke of between Bath and Glasgow there was an horrific sequence of scrum, collapse, reset, free kick, scrum, reset, talking in to by the referee, reset and then the ball was available for players to play and people to watch.

But changing laws changes the nature of the game and changes the sort of person you choose – usually somebody bigger and more multipurpose. So centres are bigger, and can tackle and bash with less skill than the flanks of ancient time. Beating their man is as dying art and yet it was one of the thrills of the game. If the scrums are so radically changed that the man broad, sturdy and short is no longer necessary it will be a huge change in the game and great men like Os du Randt and Carl Hayman will be out of a job. That is no good.

But the solution is in the hands of the prop – bind properly and stay up, and you can keep your job.

In the match between Bath and Glasgow, Glasgow were penalised far more often than Bath. In fact they were penalised twice at scrums in the first eight minutes and 58 minutes later a penalty try was awarded against them at a scrum. But at no stage was there a yellow card. It started with the binding. The Glasgow loosehead bound on the Bath tighthead's upper arm and the Bath tighthead bound on the Glasgow loosehead's upper arm. The Glasgow loosehead's arm formed a vee facing downwards. That is where the collapsing started.

Law 20.3 BINDING IN THE SCRUM

DEFINITIONS

(a) Binding by all front row players. All front row players must bind firmly and continuously from the start to the finish of the scrum.

Sanction: Penalty kick

(c) Binding by loosehead props. A loosehead prop must bind on the opposing tighthead prop by placing the left arm inside the right arm of the tighthead and gripping the tighthead prop’s jersey on the back or side. The loosehead prop must not grip the chest, arm, sleeve or collar of the opposition tighthead prop. The loosehead prop must not exert any downward pressure.

Sanction: Penalty kick

(d) Binding by tighthead props. A tight head prop must bind on the opposing loose head prop by placing the right arm outside the left upper arm of the opposing loose head prop. The tight head prop must grip the loose head prop’s jersey with the right hand only on the back or side. The tight head prop must not grip the chest, arm, sleeve or collar of the opposition

loose head prop. The tight head prop must not exert any downward pressure.

Sanction: Penalty kick

Must not grip the chest, arm, sleeve of the opposing prop

There it is. Get the basics right. That is what New York did in combatting crime when Rudy Giuliani was mayor – started with getting the small things right, the 'broken window theory'.

If the binding is right, scrum feeds are right, hooking is right and front rows have only three players on each side, then scumming will be right and there will be no need for homemade laws – like penalising standing up in the scrum, requiring moving forward before the wheel, penalising running around.

There are laws enough. They need to be complied with and applied.

It really is up to the props to do their part in ensuring their future in the game!

Imagine rugby without the great personality of props and clubs without the loyalty and devoted service of props. But then it may be that the game and it's ethos are so changed that such considerations play second fiddle to the money that the entertainment industry brings.

By Paul Dobson

@rugby365com