Why does our sport hate this unique sight?
No longer being able to scrum from a free-kick looks, at first glance, like an inconsequential tweak to the laws. How often do teams actually choose to scrum from a free-kick anyway? Not that often – really only if a side have ascendancy in that area.
However, it is worth considering why, when it is such a rare occurrence, World Rugby has bothered with this change. The focus, according to its press release, is on “both spectacle and safety”, but if that is really the case, surely there are thousands of other quandaries with which it could concern itself.
The undercurrent here is an insidious depowering of the scrum; one of rugby’s founding elements, and one which makes rugby union rugby union. The issue is that World Rugby, pressured by whoever, has deemed that scrums do not equate to spectacle.
Put simply, the governing body is wrong. Scrums, when carried out properly, are thunderous and wondrous. That happens all too rarely today, but the challenge for World Rugby was to find a way for one of rugby’s unique assets to prosper, not begin a wind-down.
Tactically, there is a point to be made, too. One of the moments of the last World Cup, a defining act of the Springboks’ charge to glory, came when full-back Damian Willemse opted for a scrum after calling a mark – a free-kick in all but name – in his 22. France were left floundering, as dreams of a first World Cup, on home soil, dissipated. South Africa’s embracing of the scrum should be applauded, not derided. There are also underhand tactics to consider. What is preventing a side, under the pump at scrum time, from deliberately committing a free-kick offence – such as an early engagement or no brake foot – to avoid further scrums?
Diversity in approach is what makes international rugby so attractive. If teams want to scrummage, it is up to the opposition to stop them and find other ways to win (as England nearly did in the World Cup semi-final). We are heading towards global rugby homogeneity.
World Rugby bleats about “spectacle and safety” but in forcing scrums to be set within 30 seconds at the Under-20 World Championship, there is not much thought or consideration to the latter. As for the former, rugby is a far richer product with functioning scrums than without them.