{"id":790420,"date":"2026-10-03T06:40:19","date_gmt":"2026-10-03T06:40:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/790420\/"},"modified":"2026-10-03T06:40:19","modified_gmt":"2026-10-03T06:40:19","slug":"scrum-feed-law-changes-explained-as-rugby-tackles-issue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/790420\/","title":{"rendered":"Scrum-feed law changes explained as rugby tackles issue"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Rugby fans have complained about crooked scrum feeds for years \u2013 and France has decided to do something about it.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>It targets one of rugby\u2019s most familiar sights: the ball being fed almost directly towards the attacking second row.<\/p>\n<p>The experiment was introduced by former Test referees Mathieu Raynal and Romain Poite, who moved into senior refereeing roles in French rugby.<\/p>\n<p>What has changed?Under the standard <a href=\"https:\/\/passport.world.rugby\/laws-of-the-game\/laws-by-number\/19-scrum\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">World Rugby scrum laws<\/a>, the scrum-half must throw the ball in straight.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>France has taken a different approach.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>The impact was quickly noticeable.<\/p>\n<p>According to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishexaminer.com\/sport\/rugby\/arid-41724615.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Irish Examiner<\/a>, there were 41 scrum-feed infringements during the opening six rounds of the Top 14 after the change was introduced.<\/p>\n<p>That compared with just 23 across the entire previous season.<\/p>\n<p>There were another 51 infringements in Pro D2, where the previous average had been around 10 per season.<\/p>\n<p>Raynal said: \u201cNinety per cent of feeds last season were straight into the second row. We want more equity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Why does it matter?<\/p>\n<p>The aim is simple: give both packs a genuine chance to compete for the ball.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>France wants to bring that contest back.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt needs to be a fair fight in the scrum,\u201d Raynal said.<\/p>\n<p>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?<\/p>\n<p>Could everyone else follow?<\/p>\n<p>For now, this is not a worldwide law change.<\/p>\n<p>France received permission to trial the approach domestically, while World Rugby&#8217;s standard scrum laws remain different.<\/p>\n<p>However, rugby&#8217;s lawmakers continue to look at ways of improving the set-piece and speeding up the game.<\/p>\n<p>RUCK has previously looked at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ruck.co.uk\/?s=law+changes\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the biggest rugby law changes and trials affecting the modern game<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Whether France&#8217;s approach eventually goes global remains to be seen.<\/p>\n<p>But for fans tired of watching scrum-halves feed the ball towards their own pack, the experiment shows the issue is finally being tackled.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rugby fans have complained about crooked scrum feeds for years \u2013 and France has decided to do something&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":790421,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[256414,258346,5903,118921,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-790420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-england-rugby-news","tag-ireland-rugby-news","tag-rugby","tag-rugby-news","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/790420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=790420"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/790420\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/790421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=790420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=790420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=790420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}