Experience with the non-verbal

[Browner]

Are you seriously saying that nobody complained about crooked feeds?

I have never heard anyone but you argue against the tap signal.

Like you, I accept that it's routinely used, I even bow to your greater experience of what happened before it developed, I even accept that it's not so material as to get bent out of shape over , but this theoretical discussion is whether any player/hooker should get advance notice of when the ball is to be thrown in? - IMO he shouldn't , your argument that the other SH can do something to reduce this advantage completely misses the thrust of my point. ........................... As an aside, albeit a related one, should one SH [the feeding one] be allowed to reach in to the scrum & remove the ball whilst his opponent 9 isn't permitted to do the same? - nope he shouldn't. The no8 should step over the ball [which now means it's left the scrum] so to allow both SH's to compete for it , but again 'someone' invented the practice & it's since become "sanctioned by custom" & like you I prefer to see the ball get to the fly half rather than having a scrabbling & wrestling match at the back of the scrum. :shrug:

 

[OB..]

You accept a hooker signalling,but not the scrum half. I see no significant difference, so let's leave it at that.

 

[menace]

Had our pre-season seminar on the weekend to go through how we are to interpret the ELVs this coming season from formal advice of the ARU. It is official that we will NOT be arse slapping, shoulder poking or even finger pointing to the SH at scrum time. We will be following the CBS but the put in will be at the discretion of the SH, the same as last year. We are of course to ensure square and steady just the same as last year too.

The formal document can be found here: http://www.rugby.com.au/referees/Laws.aspx for those interested.

At our meeting we had an ARU guy, and James Leckie, a S15 referee. When they were asked why not the 'tap the 9'....it was interesting to hear the ARU guy say 'there isn't the problem at the grassroots level so we saw no need to change from last year, plus it's in line with what the rest of the world is doing at grassroots.' So it appears the powers that be at ARU don't really keep an eye on what's going on around the place below the elite level?