The scrum BRAYometer
Before the 2012 Super 15 kicked off, Lyndon Bray, SANZAR’s referee boss, set targets aimed at speeding up the fastest of rugby in the world in two of its facets – the tackle and the scrum.
He set targets. The aim of scrum improvement was to eliminate the reset so that 70% of scrums allowed play to proceed on the first feed.
This is a summary of sorts of what happened at scrum. The names in bracket for each match are the referees for each match.
If you look at percentages, it would seem that the first week was best, followed by the second week.
The first percentage tells you how many scrums happened without being reset – well above Bray’s 70%.
The second percentage tells you how many scrums happened without anything going wrong – just under the 70%.
The purest match so far was Sharks vs Lions – 12 scrums and everyone was a pure in-out. The unhappiest scrumming was probably Reds vs Rebels.
If refereeing has an effect on scrumming, Mark Lawrence probably has the best record over his three matches – 34 scrums and not a single reset. He had just two collpases and four penalties.
Summary
R = reset
C = collpase
P = penalty
F = Free kick
Week One
Blues vs Crusaders (Chris Pollock): 15 scrums: 4 R, 4 C, 1 P
Brumbies vs Force (Bryce Lawrence): 14 scrums: 3 R, 3 C
Bulls vs Sharks (Jonathan Kaplan): 17 scrums: 4 C, 4 P
Chiefs vs Highlanders (Jonathon White): 10 scrums: 1 R, 1 collapse
Waratahs vs Reds (Jaco Peyper): 12 scrums: 2 R, 5 C, 3 P
Stormers vs Hurricanes (Marius Jonker): 11 scrums: 2 R, 5 C, 6 P, 1 F
Lions vs Cheetahs (Mark Lawrence): 10 scrums: 2 C, 2 P
Total: 89 scrums: 12 R, 24 C, 16 P, 1 F
77/89 = 86,5%
60/89 = 67,4%
Week Two
Chiefs vs Blues (Keith Brown): 16 scrums: 1 F
Rebels vs Waratahs (Bryce Lawrence): 13 scrums: 2 R, 4 C, 2 P, 1 F
Lions vs Hurricanes (Steve Walsh): 6 scrums: 1 reset, 2 C (There were uncontested scrums as well, starting in the first half.)
Highlanders vs Crusaders (Jaco Peyper): 14 scrums: 4 R, 6 C, 4 P
Reds vs Force (Ian Smith): 20 scrums: 5 R, 5 C, 1 P, 1 F
Cheetahs vs Bulls (Craig Joubert): 11 scrums: 3 R, 3 C, 3 P
Stormers vs Sharks (Mark Lawrence): 12 scrums: 2 P
Total: 92 scrums: 15 R, 18 C, 14 P, 2 F
77/92 = 83,7%
61/92 = 66,3%
Week Three
Crusaders vs Chiefs (Garrett Williamson): 11 scrums: 2 R, 13 C, 4 P
Force vs Hurricanes (Jaco Peyper): 12 scrums: 4 R, 5 C, 2 P, 1 F
Brumbies vs Cheetahs (Keith Brown): 19 scrums: 5 R, 6 C, 4 P
Highlanders vs Waratahs (Bryce Lawrence): 13 scrums: 1 R, 2 C, 5 P, 3 Fs
Reds vs Rebels (Angus Gardner): 17 scrums: 5 R, 10 C, 5 P, 3 F
Sharks vs Lions (Mark Lawrence): 12 scrums
Bulls vs Blues (Steve Walsh): 15 scrums: 2 R, 6 C, 5 P
Total: 99 scrums: 19 R, 42 C, 25 P, 7 F
80/99 = 80,8%
48/99 = 48,5%
