Laws: Better scrums in 6 Nations

There were three matches in the opening round of the Six Nations and the scrums were of interest in terms of the International Rugby Board’s determination to clean up the scrums.

In support of their call to make scrums better the IRB said that currently 60% of all scrums collapse in Tier 1 internationals and 40% of scrums are required to be reset while the average time taken to complete a scrum has risen from 41 seconds to 53 seconds. That meant that 20 scrums would take 17 minutes out of 80. And this is after much focus had improved matters.

Six Heineken Cup matches in Round 6 produced the following statistics:

92 scrums, 34 resets, 46 collapses, 20 penalties, 7 free kick

Then came a conference involving referees and coaches from which emerged a determination to get things right.

The first round of Six Nations produced the following result:

Wales vs England: 14 scrums, 2 resets, 6 collapses, 3 penalties, 2 free kicks
Italy vs Ireland:  14 scrums, 2 resets, 11 collapses, 6 penalties, 1 free kick and a penalty try
France vs Scotland: 14 scrums, 3 resets, 9 collapses, 4 penalties, 4 free kicks

Totals: 42 scrums, 5 resets, 26 collapses, 13 penalties, 7 free kicks, 1 penalty try

Resets eat time.

Tier 1 Tests above: 40% of scrums reset
Heineken Cup: 37%
Six Nations: 12%

That is a sea change of note. Obviously the zero tolerance is working – at the price of a heavy load of sanctions (50% in the case of the Six Nations). But at least the game can go on. This is shown in the time for ball in play.

The average time for ball in play in a large sample of first class matches, including Test matches,  taken since 2000 is 33 minutes 27 seconds.

Look at this weekend’s Six Nations matches and be impressed.

Wales vs England: 18 minutes 28 seconds + 22 minutes 08 seconds  = 40 minutes 36 seconds
Italy vs Ireland: 19 minutes 05 seconds + 20 minutes 07 seconds = 39 minutes 12 seconds
France vs Scotland: 20 minutes 03 seconds + 17 minutes 25 seconds = 37 minutes 28 seconds