Looking Back For Guidance On Going Forward

IN MY Fourth and final year at school, as one of the two tallest forwards, I played in the second row, or in my preferred position of Number Eight.

Leaving school and joining the local club, I found myself one of the shorter forwards, so I was switched to hooker in the second XV. I still remember my first game in that position. I took the tight-head count 10-0, and, in one memorable scrum, when the opposition's veteran tight-head decided to come after me, he received, in very-quick succession: A Glesca Kiss from my loose-head, a second GK from me, and a sharp right hook from our tight-head – my elder brother. He didn't bother us after that.

My next two games were not so-enjoyable, as I was taken to the cleaners by a wily Kilmarnock hooker, before the great Sam Muff, a legend among Ayrshire hookers, handed me my erse on a plate in a game against Ayr A2s. We did, in that match, however, in the first scrum of the second half – a restart scrum after the second half kick-off went straight out – push the Ayr pack all the way from half-way back until their number eight, Tom Gilchrist, found himself with his erse jammed-up against a goal post.

To his eternal credit, post-game, Sam Muff took me aside and gave me a quick master-class in the Dark Arts, for which, to this day I am still grateful.

Sixty years on, I can still remember that, and I dare say, I am not the only retired “donkey” with such fuzzy recollections to warm my declining years. Scrummaging, it's a game within a game – or, it used to be.

The thing with the scrum is, it is supposedly a means of re-starting play following a break-down which has not resulted in a penalty. However, generations of front rowers turned it into the above-mentioned game within a game, with its own unwritten laws and protocols; then the powers-that-be decided to get involved and, perhaps in their rush to turn Rugby Union into Basketball with an odd-shaped ball, they ruined things.

We now have a situation whereby, instead of being a means of re-starting play following a break-down, the scrum has become a means of winning penalties. This has to stop.

Sure, if there is an outbreak of Glesca Kissing, or fisticuffs, then by all means award penalties. Mind you, when actual violence breaks out on the rugby field, I always have sympathy with the referee, unnamed but mentioned in my old mate Michael Green's seminal tome: 'The Art of Coarse Rugby' who when complained to by a player that two of the opposition had just punched him, replied: “If two of them did it, you probably deserved it.” That referee might well have had the surname Hosie!!

Back to Maverick – I honestly believe, today's front-line props, with perhaps the exception of one or two South Africans, might struggle if confronted by such past masters of the Dark Arts as 'The Viet Gwent', Ian McLauchlan, Sandy Carmichael, Hughie McLeod, Fran Cotton, Syd Millar or Ray McLaughlin.

Sure, the likes of Ellis Genge carries ball well, but, he simply cannot do the basics of his job in the scrum, and he's not the only one of today's 'stars' who cannot do the basics.

Mind you, they get a lot of help from the 21^st century Law book and the application thereof. They also get huge help from today's referees, few of whom have genuine front row experience.

That's the thing, not many props or hookers, when they retire, go into officiating. I can remember two Wizards of the Dark Arts who made that unlikely jump Edinburgh's Johnny Bacigalupo and Glasgow's Jimmy Bulloch – father of British Lion Gordon and Scotland cap Alan. I think Jimmy helped write the Darks Arts Book of Spells, and nobody messed around when he, or Johnny, was on the whistle.

The thing, however, is, scrums, when properly formed and performed, offer opportunities for some subtle play. A strong prop, able to make the slightest of adjustments to his body position, can take his opponent to places he doesn't want to go, and upset the whole apple cart. It takes a very-good match official to spot what has happened and differentiate between what is good work and what is foul play.

But, the referees, or more-properly the game's High Heid Yins, haven't helped matters. We really MUST get back to straight scrum feeds, down the middle of the tunnel, to hookers striking for the ball and making the scrum a means of restarting play, rather than a penalty lottery.

 

 I have long maintained, at the elite level of the game, where television is in use, having a "Spidercam" camera, as picttured above, placed immediately above the two hookers' heads at each scrum, would be a massive help. That way, you have the three match officials looking at both sides of the scrum, while the bird's-eye camera would show the TMO if the front rows were pushing straight – thereby cutting-out most of the places where nefarious activities could be ongoing.

Also, if we went to timing games via a set “ball-in-play” time, a lot of time-wasting could be eliminated. And, while I am at it, let's sort-out perhaps the most-abused of Rugby Union's Laws: Law 19 (4) “Teams must be ready to form the scrum within 30 seconds of the mark being made. Sanction : Free-kick.”

Properly policing that single law would, certainly at the top level, save an awful lot of wasted time.

These are just examples of how, by decisive action, World Rugby could make a great game even greater. Sort out the “professional” tricks and practices which have been allowed to creep in, then, have a long, hard look at the Laws and rewrite the Law Book where necessary. That way, come the 2027 Rugby World Cup, we might have a better game on our hands.