Same_as_before
Well-known member
But it's so horrendous it would have been wrong.
Taking the overall total of 17 scrums - Munster had the put-in on 12 occasions - the average time elapsed was 73.88 seconds, although that figure does need to be qualified by a couple of other statistics. Six scrums were re-set and one was re-set twice, and the average time for those seven was 100 seconds. The other 10 scrums took 55.30 seconds on average.
Two of the three quickest scrums, the 11th and 13th of the game, took 40 and 47 seconds and what binds them together is that they came immediately after frontrow replacements were made, based on a premise that the newcomers were keen to taste the action as quickly as possible.
When it was a Saracens put-in, they took 64.60 seconds on average - it’s skewed a little but the double re-set that took 117 seconds, the average for the other four would have been 51 seconds - while Munster’s had a mean time of 78 seconds but that too requires the clarification, that six of those scrums had to be re-set: a 57.83 second average for the other six.
Another variable factor was the preamble provided by referee Poite, sometimes speaking to the respective frontrows about what he expected or reinforcing what he liked in the previous scrum. On other occasions he just let them get on with it; nothing wrong with either policy to be fair.
Stopping a match for scrums would see the amount of time it takes to complete a game at present, edging closer and closer to the two-hour mark, move appreciably beyond it. If such a mechanism had been in place at Thomond Park last Saturday, then there would have been an additional 21 minutes to get through but the main argument against the idea would centre on player welfare.
It’s not that it couldn’t be done or that there mightn’t be an appetite amongst supporters to prolong the spectacle but increasing the duration of a match by 20-minutes would place a significant additional physical toll on the players and that is the most important consideration.
World Rugby, with the assistance of referees, has been proactive in trying to tweak the scrum sequence in a bid to expedite it without losing the essence of the contest but it’ll take a fair bit more untangling to find an acceptable solution.
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Taking the overall total of 17 scrums - Munster had the put-in on 12 occasions - the average time elapsed was 73.88 seconds, although that figure does need to be qualified by a couple of other statistics. Six scrums were re-set and one was re-set twice, and the average time for those seven was 100 seconds. The other 10 scrums took 55.30 seconds on average.
Two of the three quickest scrums, the 11th and 13th of the game, took 40 and 47 seconds and what binds them together is that they came immediately after frontrow replacements were made, based on a premise that the newcomers were keen to taste the action as quickly as possible.
When it was a Saracens put-in, they took 64.60 seconds on average - it’s skewed a little but the double re-set that took 117 seconds, the average for the other four would have been 51 seconds - while Munster’s had a mean time of 78 seconds but that too requires the clarification, that six of those scrums had to be re-set: a 57.83 second average for the other six.
Another variable factor was the preamble provided by referee Poite, sometimes speaking to the respective frontrows about what he expected or reinforcing what he liked in the previous scrum. On other occasions he just let them get on with it; nothing wrong with either policy to be fair.
Stopping a match for scrums would see the amount of time it takes to complete a game at present, edging closer and closer to the two-hour mark, move appreciably beyond it. If such a mechanism had been in place at Thomond Park last Saturday, then there would have been an additional 21 minutes to get through but the main argument against the idea would centre on player welfare.
It’s not that it couldn’t be done or that there mightn’t be an appetite amongst supporters to prolong the spectacle but increasing the duration of a match by 20-minutes would place a significant additional physical toll on the players and that is the most important consideration.
World Rugby, with the assistance of referees, has been proactive in trying to tweak the scrum sequence in a bid to expedite it without losing the essence of the contest but it’ll take a fair bit more untangling to find an acceptable solution.
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Navigating the next horizon in healthcareBreaking the silence around conception and infertilityA fundamental rethink in how we view the world of workTake to the seas on the Turkish RivieraYOUR COMMENTS
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