Dominance

Scums are a unique aspect to rugby union. It is a skillset which exhibits strength, coordination, cohesion, and guile. We as referees should look to reward positive play overall. What that means with regards to scrums is that we should look to reward legal dominance.

Reward legal dominance

Here is an excellent example of rewarding legal dominance. In this clip, blue drives straight and flat, pushing red back. After a few steps, the blue tight head prop seems to go down first as a result of the red scrum being under so much pressure. The referee rewards blue for their dominance with a PK, despite it looking as though blue infringes.

This is starting to get into the concept of contextual refereeing some, but if blue attained their dominance legally, then they should be rewarded for that with either a good attacking platform, or a PK in the event that doesn’t happen (ie: the scrum goes down). It’s a positive decision that makes the game better, and it also just makes sense to someone watching on the sidelines. “Red is getting shoved in the scrum, blue gets rewarded”.

If you were the referee in this instance and you decide that blue attained their dominance legally, then the PK for that infraction needs to be blown immediately to keep your credibility with the teams and with the spectators.

Clear dominance

Here is a more straight forward example of legal dominance. Here, blue drives straight and hard. The white hooker is under so much pressure and has no where to go. She starts to fold, which makes it look like blue is driving up, and then pops out to relieve the pressure she’s under.