CHAOTIC SCRUMMAGE RULES

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 94, 15 January 1935, Page 4

CHAOTIC SCRUMMAGE RULES

English Union Takes Action FOOD FOR THOUGHT FOR ALL BLACKS Dominion Special Service —By Air Mail. London, December 21. The chaotic condition of the Rugby scrummage rules —or rather their interpretation by different referees—has at last caused the Rugby Union to sit up and take notice The rule concerning hooking was intended to mean that the ball could only be hooked by the far foot of the middle man. though the outside man might follow the ball in when it had passed him. Instead of stating this simply and clearly a good deal of unnecessary elaboration was employed. As Howard Marshall writes in "The Daily Telegraph”: “Rule 15 reads more like a complicated schedule for drilling a beauty chorus than a simple statement of facts about forward play.” The obscurity surrounding the rule has led, in the opinion of many, to a great increase in attempts to beat the referee. Some clubs discovered that rhe wording of the rule did not prevent either of the outside forwards hooking with his outside foot, so that the ball came out between him and the secondrow forward behind tim. The Rugby Union now states that f his practice must cease. In cases of persistent infringement referees must not hesitate to apply the law by ordering the player off the field. The union’s circular to referees points out the lack of uniformity which exists iu applying the laws of the game. It states that “the ball shall not be considered as having been fairly in the scrummage if it comes out between the feet of one of the outside players of the front row.” The first or outside foot of the outside player must not be raised from the ground or advanced until the ball has passed that foot. Neither may the second foot of this player nor the first foot of the centre player be moved until the ball has passed that foot. Half-backs must propel the ball gently, not quickly, into the scrum. It is obvious that there is much food for thought among New Zealanders in this Rugby Union circular and it is to be hoped that it will be carefully considered and acted on in the coming season. The All Blacks otherwise will find themselves very puzzled for the first few iiiatcbes by the intricacies of the scrummage law interpretations. The manager of the team will have to be a master of tact in any case, but after seeing this circular and the comments that it. has aroused, one is inclined to think that he will need a trained legal mind as well to pick the way of the team through the maze of the scrummage laws.