Bristol Underdogs...? That's Just Barking Mad

The new interpretation of the existing breakdown laws is working fairly well, although it looked as though the players from a couple of teams might have been asleep at the back of the classroom when the refs visited their club to explain the changes!

- Colin Boag

The most obvious example was Harlequins v Sale, where the home side were immediately up to speed, while the visitors conceded 16 penalties, and not surprisingly lost.

However, the biggest issue over last weekend was, as it has been for a while, scrum resets. It’s not only that we have too many – although we sometimes do – but the amount of time eaten up while the front rows adjust their hair before deciding to have another go.

Worcester and Gloucester, as well as Bath and London Irish, managed to avoid any resets, whereas the Northampton and Wasps game had six.

The scrum is an area that’s always under attack, usually from backs turned pundits – in the past I’ve labelled them the enemy within! However, Rugby Union minus meaningful scrums becomes Rugby League, albeit with more focus on player welfare!

If you look at videos of old games, players jog to the scrum, and quickly get stuck in – as the saying goes, they’re mad for it! Nowadays it sometimes looks as though the front rows don’t fancy the job! Referees need to stop the dithering.