An NRL Scrum
Scrums in the NRL aren't usually too eventful. If they were a car, they'd struggle to get started, they'd cough out some oil, they'd stall a few times, they'd need a missing part ... then you're good to go. I reckon it's a running joke between coaches and players - how can we make scrums the dumbest things in the world? Well they figured that one out pretty quickly.
An NRL scrum usually begins with a breather. The ref blows his whistle and the lads put their hands on their hips or above their heads to suck in a few big ones, it's a scientific process.
They players will then begin to get organised. Unfortunately for the players who pack down in the front row, they've gotta be ready for duty the earliest. The early stages of a scrum usually consist of 3 players from each team engaging in some funny banter or they might trade verbal aggression as well - usually they just stare blankly at each other or the big screen.
The guys in the front row only usually kick up a fuss when their opponent is trying to lock down in the most awkward manner - no my arm goes here, your arm goes there, type of thing. Besides that, it's pretty smooth sailing.
But then some other jokers decide to run amuck. The second row nearly always consists of a single player, yes they somehow forget how to count. So while there's a bloke ready to go in the second row along with whoever is packing in at lock, you'll quite often see a guy run in at the last minute to pack down in the second row. Strange.
Sometimes it's the lock who's missing. If so, he'll magically appear out of no where to pack the scrum.
The ball then gets shot in to the scrum, sometimes you'll see legs flailing around which for me does nothing but show how dumb the NRL scrum is. Players somehow think that they're actions can enhance a scrum, no. The ball goes in, the ball goes out.
Some of the stuff at scrums may genuinely be dumb, but it's pretty clear to see that most of it is planned. It's simply a break in play, the game isn't getting any slower so a sense of confusion buys players a bit of extra time. There is some sort of science to it - the reason we don't see props, hookers, second rowers and locks pack down as such is because coaches are thinking ahead. They want players lined up for the next few tackles to ensure that they're effective.
So what, get rid of scrums? No, just stop trying to trick us and just get on with it. The more pushing in scrums the better and if referees actually blew their whistle when teams broke from scrums early (it's a genuine tactic) then we might see scrums hold greater importance.
It seems like everyone involved dislikes the scrum. So what's the point?