even modern refs expect the ball to actually enter the scrum so you can't just get it straight out the back if only as there are too many legs in the way . my only point about the scrum was you have this bizarre dance of crouch touch engage heavily policed then and then just allow blatant feeding . Bring back the good old days please log in to view this image
what I mean is quickly not the scrum half just tossing it through. they have to be focused on fitting it to the 8s feet within 2 seconds and gone.
to do what you suggest needs either a) very lenient ref b) being able to hold the scrum steady for 2 secs while someone strikes the ball .
refs are very much indulging the ball going in complete crooked. there was one attacking scrum for Scotland that they needed to get the ball out and they left it at the 7s feet and got turned and just fell apart. get it in and get it out. why play to SA strengths?
if Scotland had a pack to front up to sa consistently then they can contest the thing. it was very clear they simply didn't have it second half therefore they can give a pen at every scrum and lose 3 point spread 50 yards or at least get it in and out and gone quickly
Well RL used to have scrums where the hookers competed for the ball however once it went professional a scrum is just used as a way of restarting the game. You can still compete in a scrum but teams very rarely
haven't paid much attention in recent years and didn't realise how bad it has become . No scrums No rucking no fighting nothing good left
RL has that rather kinky wriggle on top of each other tackle thing going on. They love to get on top of each other and jiggle about until the ref tells them to stop. I've always found that off putting
Eddie Jones is getting the sack. Fiji beat them totally fair and square and should have won by more but for dodgy reffing. the standard of rugby reffing on show has been abysmal. half of them are totally relying on someone in their ear to see the decisions. but then it's only cos we can hear them talking, I heard one ref earlier asking if someone was offside before blowing up and honestly there's a lot of issues coming into the game. honest tackles are being given reds. clash of heads stuff bit we are seeing very clear shoulder to face tackles being let go. then we see another head on head totally ignored by all. it's really really poor. if rugby has an active head injury and exposure to a massive bill then it has to go hard on the people who are very clearly resisting the change and cheating and stop sending off people who are easier targets. there was a very clear shoulder into face tackle late on in the fiji game by the aussie full back. there's constantly no wrap tackles going with shoulder into the face area by Southern hemisphere teams. imo they should just give every occruance a 6 .o th bam til the resistance die and stop sending off players who are head on head. just put both players off for hia and given them bother 12 days off. they'll also stop thst very quick
Red Bull were terrible today. End of the record winning streak, good to see others winning, will it continue in Japan?
no. redbull had no grip on the front end in quali. susuka is a lot of high speed corners that will fire up tyres and the lap is longer so basically red bull will sail through. Ferrari will burn up its tyres. look what happened here at Singapore. its tyres were absolutely shot twice but the safety car greatly aided them le clerc was 4 seconds a lap slower then verstappen over last 5 laps. its really going to be that simple all things being equal at susuka. we can hope for a) rain b) rain and oh c) rain
losing the will to live with this rugby. South Africa v Romania was one way traffic. Australia were abysmal and Fiji playing kick the ball. England v Japan yuk
Interesting England try. Goes forward off the head, so not a knock-on. Makes you wonder why Rugby players don't head the ball forward more often
I see that Dawson has now decided to ignore the impoverished nature of the England performances and get ahead of the fact thst the English teams side of the draw is utterly pathetic and England are going to be in the semi final just by turning up. being told he's wrong because they reach thst stage seems a worse fate than talking complete arse about the level of rugby. the problem is Australia just lost to Fiji so it will could be England v Fiji in the qf and England could lost that. the semi is harder to call. it could be anyone right now but it will be tough.
