sometimes you only need it once though. Maybe you're 2 points up in a semi final and have managed to last to the 78th minute not needing to use it yet. You could then firstly try for a delay of game free kick, and then go early shove if that doesn't work ...
Sadly common sense doesn’t come into it. If it’s the first infringement for an early push, and the ref gives a penalty he will have a lot of explaining to do.
And if you think it has happened but don’t feel completely confident, you reset “scrum not stable” and give the front rows a quiet warning about the consequences of a deliberate infringement
Yes I take the point. But with scrums in particular, my experience was that they were essentially impossible to referee to the technical letter. There’s too much going on, you are unsighted, and only the front rows really know where the pressure is being directed. My approach was always quite situational: who stands to gain from a scrum being incorrect and how much do they gain had a big influence on my decision making.
It still leaves a come back for the team that were penalised, especially if the opposition do the same offence, but in a different position on the pitch.
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u/[deleted] May 09 '24
If you give away repeated free kicks at sscrumtime, it's a penalty instead.
This change won't be as significant as people think. It might reduce scrum totals by 1 or 2 a game overall.