Scrum 'laws' are bit of a mess, says Leicester Tigers' Tom Youngs

There is no-one at Leicester Tigers more affected by the new scrum 'laws' than Tom Youngs. The hooker is literally at the heart of the changes.

Crouch. Bind. Set. It's hard to think that just three words could cause such confusion and controversy.

But just two games into the Aviva Premiership season and already there is just one thing dominating the headlines – the scrum.

This new engagement sequence was an attempt to reduce the impact at the point of collision, leading to fewer collapsed scrums, less risk of injury and an end to the set-piece continually ending in free-kicks and penalties.

After those three simple commands, the referee waits until the set-piece is stable before instructing the scrum-half to put the ball in straight with a call of "yes nine".

So, not only was this meant to make the scrum safer but also it was to return this centre-piece of rugby union to the 'hooking' contest it was originally meant to be.

"But it's not really happening, is it?" bemoans a frustrated Youngs. "I'm hooking the ball when it's coming in but I've not seen an opposition hooker try to strike for the ball yet.

"It got talked up as this big saving of the scrum. I don't think it's quite met up to those expectations.

"We want to get clean ball from scrums but we aren't really getting it. But also we aren't really getting a scrummaging contest either because we're either getting done for a free-kick for feeding or for going through the mark. So it's a bit of a mess either way, really.

"It's frustrating when you're getting done for that when he's not even trying to hook for it.

"It's got rid of a few problems but it's also created quite a few more at the same time."

A three-year study by the University of Bath concluded that the new procedure would reduce the impact at engagement by 25 per cent. Surely a safer move, right?

Well, this is a bit of a contentious issue for the British & Irish Lions hooker.

"They say it's safer, well not necessarily, because the hooker is lifting up his foot and he's got a huge force coming through him," says Youngs.

He recalls a story that Tigers director of rugby Richard Cockerill told about when he was on tour in New Zealand with England in 1998.

"He said he couldn't lift his foot up to hook the ball because the pressure on him was so much," explains Youngs, who says he is finding the same problem now. "There are times when you can get your foot up but you can't actually move it because of the pressure."

As soon as the referee calls "yes nine", the opposing pack know the ball is coming in and can simply drive through, knowing the hooker is going to be on one leg, swiping for the ball. It's essentially seven-and-half against eight. Is that really safer?

"You are only like that for a split second but you are still under more pressure when it's your ball," says Youngs.

This has also lead to a second counter-intuitive issue. Shouldn't the team that has the put-in have the advantage?

"Yeah, but it's not happening like that," says Youngs. "When it's their ball, it's easier to attack. It doesn't make sense.The advantage is with the opposition. It's better not having the ball."

But it's still early days. When Tigers face Newcastle today it will only be the third time they have played under the new regulations.

"We're going into games a bit bare because we haven't really seen too much of how the referees are going to officiate at scrum time. There probably haven't been quite as many collapses, but it's still been a bit of a mess."

Youngs says the more games referees and players get under their belts, the easier it should become – he hopes.