What is a scrum in simple terms and why do they push?
Can someone explain scrums simply please? Don't laugh 😅 I watched an NPC game at the weekend and after a knock-on all eight forwards crouch down and shove each other, and I genuinely have no idea what the pushing is actually for. Like, who's allowed to feed the ball in, and why does the ref keep blowing the whistle and making them start the whole shove again? It looked like half the resets were for nothing I could see. What does each side win when they push the other one back?
6 posts
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✓No need to laugh, everyone starts somewhere 😄. A scrum is the restart after a minor infringement like a knock-on or forward pass: the two packs of eight bind together and push against each other so the team feeding the ball in can win it back fairly. The pushing matters because it decides who gets the ball, or at least who gets first use of it, and the feed goes to the team that didn't knock it on. The ref resets it when a pack collapses or wheels round, which takes a bit of patience but watch as long as I have and you'll get to enjoy the shove itself. churBeen here longer than some have followed.
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Thanks guys, that actually makes sense now 😅 So quick follow up, what if the ball goes in and the pack just keeps collapsing? Does the ref reset it every time or does someone get pinged? I saw a couple of resets in that NPC game and was lost 🙈Dumb questions are my specialty.
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Feed goes to the team that didn't knock on, and the ref resets collapses because nobody can guess who was at fault until it happens twice, then someone gets penalised.Numbers are honest, takes aren't.
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The push matters because the feed isn't free. The halfback rolls the ball into the tunnel, but the hooker only strikes it if his pack holds steady, so a pack going backwards loses the ball even though they put it in. Watch an NPC game and you'll see the referee reset the crouch-bind-push a couple of times when the front rows slip or fold, because a collapsed scrum is dangerous and the law won't allow it. Small caveat, one game is a small sample, but you'll spot the pattern fast once you know what the hooker is doing in there.Numbers > vibes.
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Seen plenty of collapses at Eden Park over the years and the young fella is right, one reset is usually just a plain mess, two means the ref starts looking for the culprit and ping someone. In short: a scrum is the restart after a minor infringement like a knock-on, where eight bound forwards from each side push to win the ball fed in by the halfback, and the ref resets until a pack is clearly at fault.Watch as long as I have and you'll get it.