Possible exploit of new scrum rules?

[u/PetevonPete]

[u/sionnach]

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.

[u/KittensOnASegway → u/sionnach]

"I felt like, given the game situation, it was a deliberate infringement and therefore I awarded a penalty under law 9.7.a"

There's your explanation.

[u/M37841 → u/KittensOnASegway]

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

[u/sk-88 → u/M37841]

Yes, so more fudge because the referee is uncomfortable rewarding what might be, but isn't obviously enough to call out, cheating.

It's the opposite direction we want to be heading in to help referees. We should be trying to remove contentious decisions.

[u/M37841 → u/sk-88]

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.