Perhaps it's just selective memory on my part but I played loosehead prop for five years at school and I doubt as many as 20% of the scrums weren't completed cleanly at the first attempt. Is it just the sheer strength of these guys that's causing so many collapses or is part of it in the ref's instructions? We were just told "pause, touch, engage" and it seemed to work fine.
The scrum has gone from being the means to get the game re-started to a bloody building exercise.....when i played 30 odd years ago when a scrum was called the front rows just organised themselves, the 2nd rows got in position, the 2 sets joined up, none of this pause, touch, engage rubbish and the ref would tell the scrum half to get the ball into the scrum straight........we had the odd collapse but nothing like these days and the whole thing was usually done and dusted in 30 seconds not the 2 minutes it takes these days. Maybe Union should take a leaf out of rugby league and just pass the ball over to the opposition to restart the game......
Fortunately, I was a skinny whippet-like bugger as a kid and played fly-half. The scrums in our matches were just an excuse for a lot of sly punching, gouging and testicle-squeezing...
You would be surprised how many schools in my area were actually rugby schools , yet all we ever wanted was football !!! We was crying out for it . I went to Gunnersbury in Boston Manor , pretty strict all boys catholic school, nothing but rugby , snow , hail stones, ice , frost , blizzards didn't matter we was out there . And boy was it crap, we literally prayed for a football , ironic seeing as God was stuffed down our necks every morning !!!! ( was only time we really said a prayer)
Bloody hell wats I know most schools in west/north west can honestly haven't come across ... Was your school mainly rugby and do u feel same as we did at time that ffs get the football out ?
Would love to know some of you guys also what school and year and what attitude was to rugby and football , find it really interesting ..... Football was really looked down on in my school yet it was all we ever wanted .... Few from my year went in to Fulham , Brentford and QPR academy but yet there talent was stifled first 3 years in the curriculum as it was rugby only , u could only choose football year. 9 and later .... Thoughts?......
It's a pretty famous school. It was very much a rugby school. I was in a minority that didn't come from a prep school previously so most people had been playing rugby for years. I liked it for a few years and was playing football at the weekend anyway. It helped that aged 11 I would have been in the top 2% for height and weight. By the time I was 16 I was a bit bored of it and it was too time consuming so I drifted down the teams so I could play football in sixth form which wasn't taken seriously by the school and was a bit of a laugh for those not good enough for the senior rugby teams. The school also took hockey and cricket seriously. I was a decent hockey keeper for a bit. I prefer rugby league now but I've really enjoyed this World Cup.
I wouldn't go that far. It was a typical public school where most teachers had played rugby themselves. Football was played at lunchtimes and we had good facilities for football. The team was just crap because most of the good sportsmen had to play rugby.
Went to The Wren Jimbo from 71 -77, where you had no choice but the play rugby in 1st year and then from 2nd year you had the choice of rugby or football. Now i was football mad but i actually enjoyed rugby and stuck with it throughout my entire time at the Wren. We became the fist school side to win the Middlesex Cup 4 years in succession from 2nd year to 5th year, I missed out on 1 final due to a broken collarbone but played in the other 3 finals, the great thing was that each year we beat London Oratory in the semi final, they were really hacked off as they were the posh school and we were the local comprehensive. After leaving school i continued playing Rugby at Junior Club level, we had a brilliant social side to the game, the Easter Tours were something of legend, remember this was in the late 70;s early 80's when going abroad on tour was out of the norm, we had trips to France, Germany, Denmark, Portugal, where in all honesty the rugby was a side issue to the drinking and everything else....cough, cough.......happy days.
New Zealand do look a class side, final score a tad harsh on Tonga...... The 3 southern hemisphere powerhouse are looking ominously good, probably just 1 semi final place available to a Northern Hemisphere side unless they up their games and cause a couple of upsets in the quarters.....
Thanks for your input really glad you had positivity from your schools application to rugby , Is wren school called something else now where in Middlesex was it ? Was fichley Enfield Barnet area ?
Good grief Jimbo......Christopher Wren, Blomfontein Road, Shepherds Bush, London W12.........ring any bells? They did change the name, don't even know if it's still a school these days.
That school is called Phoenix now as from mid 90s !!! **** how times change ...... I know it no many a pall that attended ..,, Quite a tough school , put hairs on ya chest there
Sorry tramore are you saying rugby was the staple sport ,,, when you was there ? I know now that many of the lads that attend Phoenix refused to play rugby and is now football as standard ..... Interesting ......
