What is a scrum?
Whenever play has to re-start in a rugby union match after a minor rule infringement, it comes by way of a scrum.
There could be all sorts of reasons for play to stop. The ball may have been thrown forward, there could have been an accidental offside incident (a deliberate offside move results in a penalty to the opposing team), or a ruck or maul may have failed to bring the ball back in to the field of play.
The eight players in the forward positions from each team take part in a scrum. It is formed on the part of the pitch where the incident which brought about the restart took place. Each set of players make a three-four-one formation of three rows, then bind together to create a sixteen-strong huddle.
A player called the scrum-half, who does not form part of the scrum itself, feeds the ball into the ‘tunnel’ created at the point where the front rows of each team meet. The scrum-half then moves round to the back of their team’s half of the scrum, with the intention of getting the ball once it emerges.
