England legend issues message to World Rugby after epic rant over ‘sack of s***’ scrum change
England and France scrummaging in the Six Nations and Test centurion Dan Cole (inset).
Legendary England prop Dan Cole has slammed the new laws being implemented in the USA which continues World Rugby’s seeming trend of trying to depower the scrum.
The global governing body have been criticised after introducing a law which prevents teams from taking a scrum after a free-kick has been awarded.
World Rugby claimed that their reasoning behind the move was to speed up the game, but some observers insist that it will reduce the impact of a key part of the sport.
Since then, Major League Rugby have gone a step further in a move which will almost certainly depower that set-piece.
MLR’s laws
The laws include a free-kick being awarded for when a maul ends unsuccessfully and if the ball is not played after the referee has called ‘use it.’
Equally, scrums will not be allowed to be taken if the ball is knocked on or thrown into touch, or when the ball is knocked on or thrown into the in-goal area and grounded by either team.
And Cole, who has earned over a century of caps for England, was not happy after being asked by former Test team-mate Ben Youngs about the laws on the For The Love Of Rugby podcast.
“It’s a sack of s*** Ben,” he responded. “The scrum is a vital part of rugby union and they’re just trying to get rid of it to speed up the game.
“I know it speeds up the game but it also means the punishment is less. For example, say a maul collapses and the other team get a scrum, there is some form of jeopardy there. They could lose the ball and there is a contest there, whereas a free-kick is just ‘meh.’
“It’s not really speeding up the game too much and you’re losing a great technical part of the game, a great contest. You’re getting rugby further away from where it initially started.
“The game’s trying to become too diluted and I think it needs to go the other way. There’s a great art in scrummaging, a great art in the technical side of the game. We should be selling that as part of the game rather than just trying to make it like rugby league.
“That’s one game in itself and rugby union is its own game and it should sell itself on its unique aspects of the game. The contest at the breakdown, the contest in the tackle, the contest at lineout and scrum.
“Yes, people want to see tries but there are also some games where tries aren’t scored and a defensive stalemate, and there’s an art in defending. That’s what I think the game should promote rather than just trying to make it a tap-fest.
“Ultimately, I think it’s s*** Ben.”
Cole particularly took exception to the law about the maul and believes that it will not make the game any more free-flowing.
“Most maul turnovers probably occur in the opposition 22. Basically, you get a turnover, you get a scrum and there’s a contest for the scrum,” he said.
“Whereas you go there’s a free-kick and the 10 probably just bangs it down the other end of the field. You could say that they’re going to tap and go but they’re probably going to bang it long.
“Yes, it gives you open rugby but it removes an element of the contest.”
World Rugby criticism
The tighthead prop’s ire then turned to the game’s governing bodies, including World Rugby, who he feels have got their priorities wrong for improving the sport.
“The game needs to decide what it is. It should be as many contests as possible involving 15 players and they need to stick with it and promote it,” he added.
“The lineout, the maul and the scrum, they’re all unique to rugby union. On the back of that sort of stuff, you think ‘it’s not very nice for the backs’, but backs run around tight five forwards, run around front-rowers because blokes are knackered from scrummaging, from mauling, from contesting the ball.
“If you did away with front-rowers and had eight absolute mutant athletes in the forward, it would become a bit more like rugby league.
“It tries to evolve for new markets but, at the same time, the game’s not going to be football, or NFL and basketball [in terms of popularity]. The game is unique in itself and it needs to sell itself in what it does well.”
