Referees boss Lyndon Bray has called on Super Rugby officials to keep a stricter eye on how halfbacks are feeding scrums.
Two rounds into the competition, Bray said he thought the scrummaging was generally positive - referees have done away with the "yes, nine'' verbal instruction for halfbacks to put the ball in to promote a fairer contest - but concerns remained. In some cases halfbacks' feeds "were very poor'' and the officials turned a blind eye to it, he said.
In a question and answer session on the Sanzar website, Bray added:
"If you look at scrum as the area we're focused on with the new process, teams are now expected to provide stability having engaged [there is a bind and no 'hit']. What that means from a dominant scrum point of view is that you almost have to take some of your weight off to provide a strong platform and stability at the scrum.
"In return, we have a total expectation that the feeding team needs to be held accountable for a credible feed which forces the hooker to hook for the ball. If they're good enough, they can feed straight and push over the ball; Argentina does that a lot at test level.
"The key fundamental principle that we've all agreed upon is that the feeding team must be forced to hook for the ball, which allows for a fairly contested scrum.
