Comments on: Something’s gotta give

By: superba(superba)

superba(superba) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 12:10:14 +0000

Forget this crouch touch pause engage nonsense . Watching the old RWC replays the ref blew the whistle , the players got ready and then set the scrum . I dont recall many injuries at the top level . If lifting in the lineout is now ok , then let the loosie put his hand on the ground. Also the feed should be down the middle of the scrum – as is the lineout .YEs – and ruck out the offside palyers at the rucks .

By: rebbokcraig(rebbokcraig)

rebbokcraig(rebbokcraig) — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 16:12:26 +0000

FOREVERRUGGA: You hit the nail on the head. They are trying to make this game softer, soon we will also have to wear pads and helmets. These are grown well trained athletes who “trained” to be props, not some wannabe flanker trying to be a prop.
Referees and administrators stay out of the scrum, let the men sort it out by themselves, stick to meddling with school boy rugby where you need to be careful till they’re ready.
Leave it like it was. Loosehead scrums up, tighthead down, that should even it out, UNLESS, you are the weakest link, then you are gonna get *** given to you!

By: TheTackler(TheTackler)

TheTackler(TheTackler) — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 02:08:39 +0000

And jersey-makers are deliberately making fabrics which are skin-tight and slippery, so opposing props really CANNOT get a proper bind on, as they could in days gone by where you grabbed a fistful of grainy, baggy, stretch cotton from the prop’s Size 3xl super-baggy jersey. Maybe prop’s jerseys ought to be made with a grab-handle down below the outside armpit?

By: TheTackler(TheTackler)

TheTackler(TheTackler) — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 02:03:27 +0000

The culprits are the refs who give EQUAL time to the four commands: crouch, touch, pause, engage.

That’s absurd.

CROUCH.. then wait a decent while — about 15-20 seconds for the opposing scrums to form and bind up properly. When you’re satisfied they’ve done so you call TOUCH.

This is to confirm they are properly settled and close enough. It takes only half a second to confirm this.

The PAUSE command is merely to get them to brace up, ready for the next command and — if they’re properly bound and near enough — there’s no reason to delay the ENGAGE command by more than a second.

Instead of four commands with equally-timed pauses between them, a ref should be calling:

CROUCH… waiting………waiting….. TOUCH…PAUSE……..ENGAGE

Touch and Pause ought both to be over in about one second. The only time the ref calls for a longer pause before shouting “engage” would be if either pack is fidgeting because they are still not yet properly bound in the crouch.

By: foreverrugga(foreverrugga)

foreverrugga(foreverrugga) — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 07:21:46 +0000

the call for scrum should be crouch engage ffs!
to get rid of offside bring back rucking, nothing like a couple of studs in the back to get players to move from an offsides position. If some IRB pu$$ies want to change rugby to soccer let them fk off.

By: KiaKahaNZ(KiaKahaNZ)

KiaKahaNZ(KiaKahaNZ) — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 05:47:10 +0000

@Auntie Mavis(Auntie Mavis)-4: Totally agree with you . There is no benefit, perceived or otherwise, that the pause does any good.

Simply put, it should be ‘Crouch – Engage” and the halfback has to put the ball in straight – haha – never.

By: motomouse(motomouse)

motomouse(motomouse) — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 09:19:33 +0000

Surely a sensible approach would be to allow the loosehead to recover if he drops his bind if the bind is dropped before the scrum feed takes place, if the bind is dropped afterwards then by all means award a penalty.

By: Frik(frikodel)

Frik(frikodel) — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 07:46:50 +0000

Someone told me that the ‘crouch-touch-pause-engage’ was put in for school kids and juniors to not start going into dangerous scrums. If they see the top players going through the motions they’ll do so themselves.

By: Big Hit(Big Hit)

Big Hit(Big Hit) — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 07:23:32 +0000

The scrum is far from perfect but I think bringing the two teams closer together before the hit has improved matters to a degree, it is much better than it was a year or two ago. Still room for more improvement mind.

By: Auntie Mavis(Auntie Mavis)

Auntie Mavis(Auntie Mavis) — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 07:15:46 +0000

What do the powers that be think the two sets of forwards are doing between the words “touch” and “engage”?

I believe they are pausing.

So what is the point in drawling out the word “pause” when they are all pausing anyway?

Bleeding ridiculous.

By: ufo(ufo)

ufo(ufo) — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 06:19:12 +0000

it is simply the ridiculous timing of the calls by the refs…

crouch… touch… … … pause… engage… is plain stupid…

it should be crouch… touch… pause… …. engage. with the pause actually coming AFTER the word pause…

By: Black Panther(Black Panther)

Black Panther(Black Panther) — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 05:05:34 +0000

watched the 1996 Series again recently. 2 teams going hammer’n'tongs.

Can barely remember more than 5 re-starts over the whole Series. There was probably more, but it just seemed infinitely less.

The Touch-Pause-Engage was engineered to be safer and less interruption. There is now CONSIDERABLY more interruption (due to ridiculous disparities in the timing by refs) and it has created these massive HITS at the engage (non-existent in ’96) that must have a far greater rate of injury.

The Laws are a mess.

By: grant10(grant10)

grant10(grant10) — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 04:46:20 +0000

well with boks its clear….plod at 3 we to blame….