KEY POINTS:
Acclaimed scrum authorities like Mike Cron and Paddy O'Brien see only benefits for the All Blacks from the amendment to the set piece laws.
All Black tighthead prop Carl Hayman takes the same line, believing it will make his scrum more effective rather than depowering it, as some observers have tried to depict the change in the Northern Hemisphere.
Front rows must now touch at arm's length once they have been through the 'crouch and hold' routines before they engage.
The International Rugby Board has introduced the change as a safety measure to eliminate front rows launching into each other from some distance.
"It shouldn't make any difference to us," Hayman said. "It will just mean the hit will have to be shorter, sharper and faster.
"It will give the referees a measure about safety and, like the rule about lowering players at lineouts, anything that helps that area has to be approved."
All Black scrum guru Cron and IRB referees manager O'Brien also applauded the change, which was agreed by the laws project group after advice from the medical advisory committee.
"It was trialled at the world under-19 tournament to take the crash out of the scrum engagement," O'Brien said. "It is the only law which will change before the World Cup.
"Before teams engage, the props will have to touch the tip of their opponents' shoulder so the referee can check the gap.
"There is no way it will disadvantage a strong scrum. Others will have to get better technically.
"Practise will quickly get sides up to speed on the concept."
Cron dismissed suggestions the change was a move to reduce the success of the All Black scrum or that his side was guilty of rolling starts before the hit.
"We are one hundred per cent legal," said Cron, who has reformed the All Black scrum in the last few years. "What most coaches, and people who don't quite understand, seem to think is that we are three-quarter set and then come from there to a full 'set and engage' in one movement.
"That is incorrect because refs, quite rightly, don't allow that. That would be like a mobile start and would give you a huge advantage but we do not indulge in that."
In Lyon last week, referee Stu Dickinson asked for a two-second delay once teams were balanced before they engaged. "How you get from the set position is up to you as long as there is a gap," Cron said. "On our first scrum last week we were fully set and then the boys changed that later to confuse the opposition."
The French were like Argentina, they liked to fold in on the engagement rather than hit.
"They scrummage much higher than us, they come from high to low and we like to stay at the same height," Cron explained. "To me, I still think the team with the best technique will really stand out and we in the All Blacks are confident there will be no reduction on our power."
Referees would use crouch, hold and touch commands then engage. They would use frontrowers' arms as rulers to check the appropriate gap. Cron said the secret would be getting the props to retract their arms immediately otherwise there could be "all sorts of nonsense".
Referees wanted scrums to line up square, have the right gap and had zero tolerance for early hits.
"It is the most complicated restart in any world sport," said Cron, "because no two scrums are ever identical."
Cron was unwilling to quantify the improvement in the All Blacks' scrum since the last World Cup but did say the strength of the New Zealand system was that props ranked 10 or 12 were doing the same things technically as the All Black front row.
"And our knowledge has improved especially with how the back five should operate."
