Ex-ref boss: World Rugby have not fixed the scrum but instead put it on ‘death row’
Super Rugby Pacific scrum and World Rugby chair Brett Robinson.
Former IRFU referee boss Owen Doyle has hit out at the attempt to depower the scrum with World Rugby and Super Rugby both in the firing line.
Laws have been introduced in an attempt to speed up the game, but the set-piece has been particularly targeted by the sport’s bigwigs.
They have therefore been accused of trying to take away one of the key pillars of the sport, one which makes rugby union so unique.
World Rugby refusing to fix the scrum
“Where to now for the scrum. It is one of the game’s key identities and provides a huge amount of space out wide for the backs to attack. However, for a long time now it has been used far too much as a penalty-generating machine, accompanied by repetitive resets adding to the problem,” Doyle wrote in his Irish Times column.
“It has become a blot on the landscape and one would assume that World Rugby are anxious to fix it, including the risible put-in. But that’s an assumption which, sorry to say, is far from what’s happening. Instead, World Rugby have the scrum on death row.”
World Rugby introduced an amendment which stopped teams from taking a scrum following a free-kick and Super Rugby have now joined in on the act.
For the 2026 campaign, an accidental offside will now be a free-kick rather than a scrum and delaying the playing of the ball at a ruck will also result in the same sanction.
They have not been implemented globally but given World Rugby’s determination to speed up the game, it would not be a surprise should they try to do just that.
“We’ve already seen a number of scrum decisions changed to free-kicks and there are even more on the way in Super Rugby. We will now see free-kicks for accidental offsides, and delaying playing the ball at a ruck – both are currently scrum calls,” Doyle wrote.
“Handing uncontested possession to your opponents for an accidental offside is a total nonsense. All of this is, we are reliably told, fan-focused. Which fans I wonder?
“This can’t just be a north v south issue. There are fans in both hemispheres who appreciate the value of the scrum and what it means to the game.
“It’s also impossible to imagine that South Africa are happy with the proposals. Moving to free-kicks in the hope that it will attract more fans is chasing fools gold.”
Rugby league accusations
Doyle has therefore urged the unions and the leagues to resist these changes amid accusations that World Rugby and its new chair, Australian Brett Robinson, are trying to turn it into a version of rugby league.
“The free-kick is as near to rugby league’s play-the-ball as you can get. Quickly taken, the player cannot be touched by any opponent who is not already back 10 metres,” the former Test referee added.
“It’ll produce plenty of helter-skelter stuff, without any structure. It will not replace the space created by a good scrum, which ties up nine opponents in a relatively small space.
“Recently, the chair of World Rugby, Australia’s Brett Robinson, insisted that union is not moving towards league. But, in reality, most of the recent law trial changes are straight out of league’s playbook.
Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for world-class coverage you can trust.
“Scrapping the scrum is a very blunt instrument to employ in working towards the otherwise meritorious objective of getting more ball in play time.
“That objective, however, does not justify taking the scrum out of the game. It is one of the sport’s great characteristics, and those are what makes rugby union unique.
“We lose that uniqueness at our peril – sure there would be some sort of game but it would not be rugby union. Unions, not in favour of these proposals, should hold firm to their position. Throwing the scrum to the wolves would represent a grave, irretrievable error.”
READ MORE: Jaco Peyper: Why a Super Rugby law trial will slow the game down, not speed it up
