Rugby fans have complained about crooked scrum feeds for years – and France has decided to do something about it.
The Top 14 and Pro D2 have been operating under a trial designed to make the scrum a fairer contest, with referees taking a much harder line on how scrum-halves put the ball in.
It targets one of rugby’s most familiar sights: the ball being fed almost directly towards the attacking second row.
The experiment was introduced by former Test referees Mathieu Raynal and Romain Poite, who moved into senior refereeing roles in French rugby.
What has changed?
Under the standard World Rugby scrum laws, the scrum-half must throw the ball in straight.
However, the laws also allow the scrum-half to align their shoulder with the middle line. That lets them stand slightly closer to their own pack.
France has taken a different approach.
The shoulder-aligned feed has been removed under the trial. Scrum-halves must instead stand centrally and put the ball into the middle of the tunnel.
The impact was quickly noticeable.
According to the Irish Examiner, there were 41 scrum-feed infringements during the opening six rounds of the Top 14 after the change was introduced.
That compared with just 23 across the entire previous season.
There were another 51 infringements in Pro D2, where the previous average had been around 10 per season.
Raynal said: “Ninety per cent of feeds last season were straight into the second row. We want more equity.”
Why does it matter?
The aim is simple: give both packs a genuine chance to compete for the ball.
Hookers were traditionally expected to strike for possession. As feeds increasingly favoured the attacking team, winning the ball against the head became far less common.
France wants to bring that contest back.
“It needs to be a fair fight in the scrum,” Raynal said.
It also tackles a question supporters have asked for years: why have a law requiring a straight feed if crooked put-ins are rarely punished?
Could everyone else follow?
For now, this is not a worldwide law change.
France received permission to trial the approach domestically, while World Rugby's standard scrum laws remain different.
However, rugby's lawmakers continue to look at ways of improving the set-piece and speeding up the game.
RUCK has previously looked at the biggest rugby law changes and trials affecting the modern game.
Whether France's approach eventually goes global remains to be seen.
But for fans tired of watching scrum-halves feed the ball towards their own pack, the experiment shows the issue is finally being tackled.
