Allan Massie: Set scrum laws need revision as refs turn blind eye to squint ball

THERE are, I surmise, very few followers of rugby who aren’t bored, distressed or exasperated by the set scrum today.

Time and again scrums collapse. Time and again referees award either a free kick for early engagement or a penalty for some illegal angle or binding. Time and again a penalty is awarded because one scrum is going backwards and the front row have stood up.

Invariably – not just time and again – the scrum-half puts the ball in squint, and referees who whistle up squint throws at the line-out (occasionally anyway) pay no attention, perhaps because they are happy to think that a squint put-in gives them the chance of getting the scrum over quickly.

Are the Laws wrong? Or the referees? Or what? Teams now have scrum coaches – England have just re-appointed Graham Rowntree who was also the Lions’ scrum coach in South Africa two years ago. One wonders what these coaches do, since they don’t apparently manage to teach their charges to scrum lawfully or, often, effectively. Some critics say it is difficult for props to get a grip on their opposite number’s skin-tight jersey and suggest that props be required to have what you might call a holding-band on their jerseys. This might help, but not much, I would think.

I’m sure the law relating to engagement needs revision. I am also sure that part of what’s wrong is that hooking has become an all-but-obsolete craft. Instead we have the eight-man shove from both scrums. What, after all, is the point of hooking if the ball isn’t put in straight? Bizarre as it may seem, we have reverted to what was the approved practice in the 1890s. (Yes, 1890s; this isn’t a misprint). In a coaching manual from those days, Frank Mitchell, who captained England in the 1896 Calcutta Cup match, wrote of the importance of “getting the first shove. There must be no standing on one leg while attempts are made to hook the ball back with the other. While forwards are trying to do this, the other side will shove them back and take possession.”

Remedy: insist the ball be put in straight and require both hookers to strike.

As things stand, the set scrum is not only unsatisfactory; it’s also a lottery, since so many result in a penalty. Often the referee’s decision seems capricious, and only a daft captain should opt for a scrum if awarded a penalty in an attacking position. It’s 50-50 the next penalty will be given against his side.

Meanwhile on Thursday it was good to hear SkyTV pundits, Stuart Barnes and Dewi Morris, speaking admiringly of Edinburgh’s all-action off-loading game, a style which, Barnes said, could trouble English and French clubs who aren’t accustomed to it. There’s no doubt that Edinburgh’s remarkable comeback against Racing Metro, following their away win against London Irish, has raised their stock. Given the right conditions, and something like equality up front, they are capable of running the opposition off the field.

Writing this a few hours before they meet Cardiff away, one wonders if they will enjoy either of these things. Vile Welsh weather and a more powerful Cardiff pack seem probable. If they come home with a losing bonus point, they will have done well and would be in a good position to take their revenge at Murrayfield next week.

Glasgow have been playing a much less adventurous game, but, with the exception of their dire performance in Dublin, have been grinding out victories by means of some rumbustious and skilful forward play, and the game management and powerful boot of young Duncan Weir. Weir’s build, tactical sense and ability to kick the ball high enough for it to be lost in the low clouds of a Glasgow sky must remind many veteran watchers of Angus Cameron, the Glasgow High School FPs and Scotland stalwart of the Fifties, often referred to by the Press as “the 14-stone pivot”, these being the days when fly-halves usually had a figure more like a dancer’s than a Shorthorn bull’s. Sean Lineen has sensibly opted this weekend for Weir rather than Ruaridh Jackson, clearly not yet fully match-fit after his long lay-off. They have different virtues, rather as Craig Chalmers and Gregor Townsend had in the mid-90s. “Horses for courses” may be Lineen’s watchword as the season progresses.

Sunday’s match against Montpellier is one Glasgow must win after their sorry show against Leinster. Otherwise their interest in the Heineken, and perhaps even their chance of qualifying for the later stages of the Amlin Challenge Cup, will probably be over. If, on the other hand, they do win, then Montpellier, after two defeats and a draw, will surely have no chance of reaching the knock-out stages. So their enthusiasm for the return game next week may not be great as they prefer to concentrate on the Top 14, in which they lie eighth but only six points behind Castres who are in third position. That said, Montpellier are a good side, unlucky not to have beaten Leinster at home in the first round of the cup and then losing to Bath away by only three points.