If you thought the scrum would be less of a factor with the new call, have a look back at the WP and Bok games of the weekend. Schalk Jonker spoke to a few players about the new call in the latest SCRUM magazine.
It’s out with old and in with the ancient as hookers are once again be required to actually hook the ball and scrumhalves risk getting on the wrong side of the referee if they don’t put the ball in straight …
What this means is that scrums will be a lot more taxing on all eight forwards. Where scrums under the old laws lasted what seemed like a split-second, we will now see scrums last anything between five and ten seconds.
Springbok flanker Siya Kolisi: “It’s more of an eight-man scrum now. It isn’t down to just the props and the locks to do the work. We all have to push and it’s equal for everyone.”
Cheetahs prop Wian du Preez: “As props we are used to them changing the rules every year and we know that we will have to adjust rather quickly. Obviously it wasn’t going to be plain sailing from the get-go and we saw a lot of penalties and collapsed scrums. But we all have to give it a go and see if it works and focus on understanding how referees interpret the new scrum laws. We are all in the same boat and the scenario is quite simple. The team who is quickest to adapt to the new laws and make it work for them will be the team in the pound seats.”
Lions and former Bok prop prop CJ van der Linde: “Look, it was always going to be a bit of a process to adapt. It always is when they introduce a new law. But I have no doubt in my mind that strong scrummagers will get their reward under these new laws. To me this is all very exciting. Whenever a new law is introduced it takes people, not just the players, a while to get used to it. I reckon people have already forgotten what the new laws were in 2012. But I like what they have done. I think it brings the contest back and we will see proper tightheads again. It will add a dimension that has disappeared from the art of scrummaging and that is undoubtedly a good thing in my book. Hookers will have to hook and that is great, although they all will probably have to learn how to do it from scratch again.”
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