RUGBY LAW CHANGES.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVIII, Issue 58, 5 February 1938, Page 10

RUGBY LAW CHANGES.

SCRUMMAGE CONTROL TO BE STRICTER. WELLINGTON, Feb. 5. Details have been circulated to New Zealand Rugby referees of alterations to the exsiting laws of the game approved by' the International Rugby Board last season. In most cases a summary was cabled from London at the time, and details have been furnished so that officials may study them before the new season starts. The most important change is in connection with the scrummage, particularly in regard to the actual putting into the serum. Previously, a player was instructed to stand “about three feet” from the scrummage, which was so indefinite that, if he took up his position at two feet or even less from the scrum, he was seldom dealt with. The new rule makes the distance "not less than three feet,” and, from the procedure adopted by the Springboks when in New Zealand, it would appear that, in South Africa at least, it is the custom to put the ball in from distances a good deal in excess of three feet.

The next point is the deletion of the word “from,” which in the old rule occurred before the phrase “below the knee,” and a comparison will show that the altered wording also brings about a slight change in meaning. A little further on, the words, “gently propel,” have been amended to “put in at moderate speed,” an alteration in sense as well as meaning.

An important change occurs toward the end of clause (g), where it is stated that the ball must first touch the ground past one foot of the nearest player in each front row. Previously, it was ruled that the ball must touch the ground before it was fairly into tho scrummage; hut there was no instruction as to where it should first touch the ground. The question of the hall being fairly in the scrummage is dealt with further in (h) and (i). The former clause appears to add nothing new, but the latter halt of (i) “. . . . or between the feet of either of the outside players of each front rowon the side on which the ball has been put in” ... is a definite addition to the old rule.

According to one prominent referee, it will not be easy to enforce this rule, which insists that the ball must bounce into the scrum in or near a certain spot, that is, past the first feet of the scrummaging players. Most of the other alterations clarify existing rules. Those dealing with the tackle, lying on the ball, and obstruction, were explained last season.