A scrum consists of eight players from each side who bind on to each other and try to push the other team backwards and off the ball, players cannot push before the ball is in the scrum this will result in a penalty.
Players must remain bound until the ball comes out however if the ball is at the feet of the hindmost player, they may unbind, pick the ball up and continue playing. The only time fewer than 8 members of the team are in the scrum is if a second row or flanker has been sin-binned, sent off or left the field due to injury and no replacement is available.
The eight players in the scrum are 2 x Props, 1 x Hooker 2 x Second Rows and 3 x flankers. The props and hooker comprise the front row. This is a specialist area of the game and only players suitably trained in the prop and hooker positions may play in the front row. If injuries or disciplinary matters dictate that there is insufficient cover for the front row, uncontested scrums are played. In an uncontested scrum, the forwards do not push or compete and the team that put the ball in must win it.
The scrum is formed by the hooker putting an arm around either prop, the two second rows then places their heads into the spaces between the hooker’s hips and the props hips. The flankers then bind on to the second rows with one flanker on the side of the scrum that has most open field, one on the side with least field and one in the middle – the number 8. The props also have a specific side of the scrum to bind on to. The loose head prop binds on the side of the scrum that the ball is put in from (hence there is space on one side of his head!) and the tight head prop binds on the other side of the hooker. As the front rows interlock heads when the scrum is formed, a tight head prop will always scrummage against a loose head prop and vice versa.
The scrum half of the team that have the “head” – so called because the loose head is nearer the scrum half puts the ball in straight in the channel between the two front rows. The ball must come back out of the scrum via any route, as long as it passes through the legs of a prop. Once the ball is out of the scrum, play carries on as normal.
