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SYDNEY - New scrum laws for next year's Super 14 were road-tested in Sydney yesterday amid concerns they will disadvantage powerful scrummaging teams.
Super 14 coaches and the leading referees from the three competing nations digested the changes at a suburban park as front-rowers from the Waratahs demonstrated how they would work.
The International Rugby Board changes mean less impact when the front rows engage at scrum time, with the props required to reach out and touch their opposite's shoulder before the referee calls them together.
It is primarily a safety move, designed to lessen spinal injuries.
Queensland Reds and former Wallabies coach Eddie Jones admitted scrum dominance may be negated initially as forward packs adjust.
"I don't think it's going to improve the scrum at all but it'll make it safer," Jones said. "It regulates the distance and, in some ways, regulates the timing of the engagement but sides are going to find ways around it.
"This law's been around before and sides have found ways around it.
"Initially we might see an evening out of the scrums but the natural progression is that teams and good players and coaches will work out ways to use it to their advantage."
Waratahs coach Ewen McKenzie, a former Wallabies prop, appeared lukewarm on the changes too but agreed the safety issue was paramount.
"It's not like we're going down some radical path, but the players and referees haven't had to work in that environment, so we have to re-educate some areas," he said.
"It's added a little bit more complexity but we'll get through it. Obviously the further you get apart you can generate more momentum but that goes well 99.9 per cent of the time."
The New Zealand presence in Sydney included Crusaders coach Robbie Deans, the Chiefs' Ian Foster, Western Force and former All Blacks coach John Mitchell and leading referees Paul Honiss and Lyndon Bray.
Deans said the scrum safety issue wasn't such a big one at the top level where serious injuries were less common, but it was important an example was set for the amateur game.
He felt the team with the dominant scrum would still gain an advantage.
"The scrum still comes down to the unit and the techniques within that. It's not going to deny any access to the contest and hopefully will deny instability," Deans said.
"From a safety perspective I'm for it, absolutely."
- NZPA
