Quote:
Originally Posted by Party Elephant
Hey UCB, I was wondering if you could explain and maybe provide some insight into the changes they've made to the rules in the scrum over the last couple of years. I assume it's all to do with injury prevention but never heard the actual reasons behind it, and rugby broadcasts in New Zealand don't exactly spoon feed you the rules.
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My rugby knowledge pails in comparison to UCB but I will try to answer.
The old sequence was Crouch, Touch, Pause, Engage. The Touch step was added to ensure the props were within touching distance of each other before the packs pushed, which reduced the force of the scrum. Unfortunately this was still a dangerous activity and didn't do anything to reduce the number of collapsed scrums.
The recent rule change makes the sequence Crouch, Bind, Set. The props now need to engage each other and wait for the Ref to be happy before the packs can push. Since there is no longer a gap between the packs before pushing the force in the scrum has been greatly reduced. It also has the added benefit of reducing collapsed scrums and speeding up the game.