Phil Clarke says it's a mistake to listen to those calling for a return to old-fashioned scrums.
'When push comes to shove, rugby league has got scrums right'
'Bring back the contested scrum'. That's what a lot of people who've followed rugby league for over 30 years keep saying.
They think that the modern-day scrum is a farce and possibly a waste of time. Their memories tell them that it was better to witness the aggressive fight for possession, which also involved a great deal of skill from the hooker, who would have to time his strike for possession. The fact that you didn't know which team was going to get possession from the scrum kept the crowd in a state of suspense.
A 'win' against the 'feed' (i.e. the team not putting the ball into the scrum gaining possession out of the back of their scrum) was celebrated and could act as a subtle shift in the game.
However, I have to say that I think that it is a slightly-romanticised view and, sadly, have come to the conclusion that what we have at present is possibly the best situation possible.
When I watched the games played by the visiting Kangaroos of 1982, I quickly remembered how messy and slow the old-fashioned scrum could be. At times it took ages for the ball to come back into play after the referee had tried his best by reforming the collapsed scrum several times.
I think that we must have come to the conclusion that it is too difficult to get 12 men to bind together, push and contest for the ball. Too many factors are involved, it's too hard to officiate and it takes too long.
An article in the newspaper at the weekend about rugby union scrums and the potential they have to make a match embarrassingly one-sided (take England's recent Six Nations demolition of Ireland, for example) convinces me even more that the decision we made in rugby league, effectively to have uncontested scrums, was the right one.
Then there's the time issue. The Six Nations game between Ireland and Scotland had 20 scrums in it. Some of those collapsed, some were re-set, some penalised and others resulted in a free-kick. In total they lasted for 21 minutes; that's more than a quarter of the game spent watching the two teams attempt to get the ball back in play.
If they can't get it right all the time in rugby union, where they really value the scrum and think it's important, what chance would we have in rugby league? (I've also ignored the safety aspect of scrums, which have caused several serious spinal injuries, especially when they collapse).
So I think that the modern scrum is about the best way we have to get the ball back into play to satisfy the supporters and give them what most of us want: running rugby.
If you can think of a better way, then please let me know.
