Brian Moore: good start for the scrum laws, now build on it Though it has to be hoped this subject fades through familiarity, the scrum was unavoidably the focus of attention in every game given the new International Rugby Board directive. What is plainly evident is that it has already had an effect, but whether it achieves what is needed now rests on some referees having the courage to continue their first attempts to referee all the laws properly and others being metaphorically, or otherwise, slapped about the head to start doing so. For example, the Scarlets v Leinster game and the Saracens v London Irish match saw an utterly unacceptable variance in applying the same laws. In the former they were almost ignored completely, in the latter a decent attempt at enforcement was made. It is wrong for the fans but more importantly the players for there to be such variation. Not insisting on firm adherence is not only counter to IRB instruction it will not make players master the necessary skills. Any referee who abrogates this responsibility must be stood down until he is able and/or willing to fully accept it. We must be patient. Practices learned over a decade will not be flawlessly reversed immediately and remember the trial is over a full year. Players and coaches will need time to improve, though they will do so more quickly if they accept the need and referees do not hold out the possibility of them not having to do so. Furthermore, the new approach cannot make all scrums perfect. They can collapse due to mistake and malevolence but what must be kept firmly in mind is against what the success of this initiative must be judged. Anywhere between 50 and 80 per cent of scrums were not being completed and quick ball was almost never provided for the backs to use. What was more encouraging is that a new mindset about what the scrum is for and the potential it has was evident in most games. To take two of the best cases, the All Blacks and Saracens used a quick strike to set their No 8 free to make rapid yards and fashioned strike runs from backs which were effective. The alleged and bogus claims that hooking is unsafe were incontrovertibly proved false and a succession of hookers carried out this lost art without any difficulty. Importantly, this approach saw the backs coming into the equation as a result of this restart for the first time in many seasons and they must be pleased not to have to be spectators for what was starting to be up to a quarter of every game. Of the technical aspects, referees need to spend less effort on getting exact stillness at every part of the engagement sequence and more on the put-in, both its timing and accuracy. If they do not allow the scrum half more than a couple of seconds to link up with the hooker all they do is give the other pack a reasonably reliable signal as to when to shove, which will not help enforcing the imperative that there is no early shove. They also have to stop the put-in side driving early and stepping over the ball as if they do not they will simply get an escalating arms race of shoving and we will be back to where we started. There is every cause to feel encouraged and with positivity and perseverance we can be rewarded by something that will be far more entertaining to watch and to play.