Well done to Sam Grove-White

On a Stompies put-in to the scrum yesterday, Connacht really did not want to scrum. On the first attempt, the ref should have awarded a free kick to the Stompies. Instead, he stood everybody up and said to Connacht(paraphrasing) "You will not get the free kick you are looking for and I will penalise you."

One the second put-in, he penalised Connacht.

What this tells me;

1) Teams are gaming scrums to give away a free kick instead of a penalty, exactly as predicted when this rule change came in. It's damn unacceptable...this is rugby union!!! And it basically means that the scrum has been devalued. How can this be okay?

2) Most refs will shy away from controversy and simply allow the free-kick to be drawn, instead of invoking general unsporting conduct laws to penalise infringing teams. I know this because, during this season alone, weaker scrumming sides having been giving away free kicks at a crazy rate and this is the first time I've seen a ref verbalise their frustration at it.

3) There is a massive grey area here because the ref now has to make a decision about whether the infringing side is intentionally giving away a free kick. It's only going to lead to even more controversy.

So, as much as Dave said it wasn't a big deal when the law change initially came in, it is a big deal. It's devaluing a key unique feature of rugby union and it is creating new problems.

Your thoughts?

I agree wit you on that one - he facs spea for itself. I players delibrately saboage he scu rules hey shuld be warned and i hey persisted theys hould be enalized like happened yesteday..

and said to Connacht(paraphrasing) "You will not get the free kick you are looking for and I will penalise you

Actually he said, "so Stormers you just control how forward you go, Connacht you accept them" (I have the URC TV package I checked)

Connacht fan's needless to say saw it different. Stormers never controlled their weight at the scrum, which the ref warned them about several times at the same time he was warning Connacht about not meeting them in the middle.

When Connacht had an attacking scrum 5 meters from the Stormers line, he warned both teams about the same thing when he reset the first scrum, then penalized Connacht. Why would Connacht do the exact same thing again on attacking lineout 5 meters from the Stormers line. We had only one completed scrum at this point which Stormers had won a penalty from which I thought was quite dubious with the Stormer No 1 clearly had his elbow on the ground first, but it's not like the Stormers had proven to have such a superior scrum that Connacht wouldn't won the ball on their own feed.

Stav, he said "I will not give you the free kick you are looking for. I will penalise you." And he was speaking directly to Connacht.

Unless I don't understand English any longer.

You are referring a different scrum.

I do remember the scrum you are talking about. But it's not the one in question.

At 05:40 is the scrum you're talking about.

Stormers scrum is not very strong at the moment. The Kitshoff departure left the stormers with loose head problems.

The likes of Vermaak, Sands and Harris is trying but coming up short. Honestly Harris needs to hang up the boots and make space for younger stronger props.

He has done WP proud but he is overstaying his welcome and Dobson is enabling it.

WR is drowning Rugby in unnecessary Rules and the cracks is showing.

Refs are Making more wrong calls as of late , which usually have a great impact on the outcome of that particular Match.

The new laws is complicating things, instead of Making it more streamlined.

That has a impact on the flow of the game, with the plethora of stop starts in Modern day rugby.

Stav

A question to you on a different issue. What do you think of Sacha Feinberg-Ngomezulu as a player. To my mind he was the player that virtually won the match for the Stormers,

By the way I saw somewhere that Leisnter is trying to sign up Willemse for the next season and I think they would want to get Sacha at all costs - but I think they will not be able to raise enough funds to get him. It will cost well over EU 1,5 million a year to get him.

Pretendergast needs to play as much as possible as does Jack Crowley...so no room at Leinster and Munster...

A question to you on a different issue. What do you think of Sacha Feinberg-Ngomezulu as a player. To my mind he was the player that virtually won the match for the Stormers,

Well from what I seen of him yesterday he was very good. He did pretty much win that match on his own. Though I will say Connacht are very poor defensively. Might find it a bit tougher against a better defense.

By the way I saw somewhere that Leisnter is trying to sign up Willemse for the next season and I think they would want to get Sacha at all costs - but I think they will not be able to raise enough funds to get him. It will cost well over EU 1,5 million a year to get him.

From what I heard Stormers aren't letting Willemse go.

Pretendergast needs to play as much as possible as does zJack Crowley...so bo room at Leinster and Munster...

Yeah they need time to develop their game. Lots of potential, but far away from the full package.

Back on the main point.

The refs know that teams are starting to game scrums to concede a penalty instead of a free kick.

Am I the only on that sees this as a massive problem?

No you not, it’s a attack on Our beloved scrum….without the Scrum, Rugby Union will be dead and not worth watching!!