There is one part of this whole scrum issue that is really important. Some of the commentators are completely missing it (e.g. Horan and co, for whom the scrum is, and probably always has been, a complete mystery) This is that the straight feed MUST go hand in hand with a square, stable and stationary scrum. Too often in the the past, referees, especially at elite level, have focussed on Law 20.5
[TEXTAREA]THROWING THE BALL INTO THE SCRUM
No Delay. As soon as the front rows have come together, the scrum half must throw in the
ball without delay. The scrum half must throw in the ball when told to do so by the referee.
The scrum half must throw in the ball from the side of the scrum first chosen.[/TEXTAREA]
at the expense of 20.1 (j)
[TEXTAREA]FORMING A SCRUM
(j)
Stationary and parallel. Until the ball leaves the scrum half’s hands, the scrum must be
stationary and the middle line must be parallel to the goal lines.
A team must not shove the
scrum away from the mark before the ball is thrown in.[/TEXTAREA]
Now in the past, referees have allowed the ball to be shoved off the mark before the scrummie put the ball in, but because they have also permitted crooked throw-ins, these omissions had little impact.
All that has changed now, but if you watch the the 1st Bledisloe test, Craig Joubert, while he generally had an excellent game overall, was still falling into the old habit of trying to get the ball fed quickly, even when the scrum was still moving.
I cannot overstate the importance of the referees now ensuring that the scrum is not moving. Scrum stability compliance needs to come first and needs to be accorded greater material weight than whether or not the ball is fed straight, i.e., if the scrum is moving and the scrummie throws the ball in crooked,
the "pushing early" offence is more material than the "crooked feed" offence. If the scrummie throws the ball in straight while his pack is being pushed backwards, he will be effectively be throwing the ball into his opponent's scrum.
I have prepared this simple gif animation to show how vital this aspect is.
The red line is the middle line of the scrum, which moves to the right with the scrum
The blue line (when it appears) is the path the ball takes when it is
thrown in straight
As you can see, the moving scrum is all the time pushing the hooker of the team throwing in away from the strike zone.
If referees expect the scrummie to throw the ball in straight, they simply
must understand that the
scrum must not be moving at the time of the put in.