Manage it before it happens.
I recommend to all referees that if they have to go to uncontested scrums, they should stress to both teams at that time that all the normal laws will be applied except that the team throwing in MUST win the ball, and neither side may push. Otherwise, crooked feeds, dummying, illegal use of hands, breaking early etc will all be penalised as normal.
Depending on the game you may choose to be lenient the first time and merely reset the scrum.
Manage it before it happens.
I recommend to all referees that if they have to go to uncontested scrums, they should stress to both teams at that time that all the normal laws will be applied except that the team throwing in MUST win the ball, and neither side may push. Otherwise, crooked feeds, dummying, illegal use of hands, breaking early etc will all be penalised as normal.
Depending on the game you may choose to be lenient the first time and merely reset the scrum.
This was one of my very early games and I actually did do as OB suggests here.
I penalised the 2nd and third hands in. Same player every time. Then it stopped.
At the time, I was quite happy with my decisions - frankly still am. I shared on here to get others' views of this now that we're supposed to be much more into "materiality".
Just as I would insist that they all bind with a full arm though obviously if I was reffing a test match I would completely ignore the fact that they have to pack down at all!!!!:Nerv:
CT, you're an Englishman so it'd be nigh on impossible for you to be appointed to ref a match where uncontested scrums were called for
the team throwing in MUST win the ball