America’s scrum tweaks are a threat to rugby’s core values

Morgan Bolton

If they haven’t done so with a string of unpopular executive orders in the past month, which have had a tremendous impact on the globe’s geo-political stability, the Americans really peeved off the world – well, the rugby one at least – when they decided this week to sanction the scrum in their league.

Major League Rugby (MLR) made the rather odd choice of tinkering with the laws, trialling new decrees in an attempt to limit the set-piece in their upcoming season.

Knock the ball on or forward pass into touch? Line-out option only.

Do the same when over the tryline? Drop-out.

Failure to use it or lose it? Free-kick; and the same result if a team fail to take advantage of their maul.

🇺🇸 The new MLR law changes really diminish the importance of the scrum.

It's one of the iconic things that non rugby-nuts know about the sport. It needs better promotion.

16 freaks of nature throwing their entire body weight at each other - it has the potential to be so cool. https://t.co/aMcAji4246

— RugbyInsideLine (@RugbyInsideLine) February 11, 2025

The decision to do so by MLR is seemingly a cynical one, and doesn’t seem to be in the best interests of the game.

Rather, it seems, it is a move to placate a new broadcasting deal with ESPN, in what can only be described as the most American capitalist, invisible hand, survival of the fittest in a competitive market, boardroom, marketing decision you’ll probably ever see in the sport.

Until World Rugby get wind of it, of course, and then lick their chapped lips in glee and says, “Oi, we should have a go at that, shouldn’t we?”

The global administrative body of the sport does have a propensity to do such a thing – implementing harebrained, nonsensical law changes, backed up by some suspicious methodology, research and statistics.

Every year they tinker and tweak a law here and there, hoping to fix something that isn’t broken, confusing their support base and making entry into the sport for newbies that much more impenetrable.

It’s one of the reasons there is no consistency when officiating the game, even at the most professional level.

The ongoing war on the scrum

And thus, the war on the scrum continues, and it is by any estimation a struggle for the very soul of rugby union.

No phase of play in the code exemplifies rugby’s values and mythos more than the scrum. Rugby is built on the ideas of unity, team effort and being a global sport for all – World Rugby’s words, not mine.

That mission statement is built into the very fabric of the scrum, where eight players of various sizes and talents try to dominate eight other players of various sizes and talents in a cohesive team effort, in the hope that they will be able to unleash their seven backline players of various sizes and talents into a winning effort.

Going scrum-lite, as the Americans are doing, is therefore not only an affront to the spectacle of the game, but I would argue an attack on the ethos of its spirit.

Negative backlash

After announcing their decision to do so, there was a generally negative backlash from all quarters, including their own fans, and rightly so.

Just a few days ago, the Bulls showed why it is such an important part of the game when they decimated the Stormers pack, and it was glorious to watch.

It should not be lost that within these law trials, the US are set to host the Rugby World Cup in 2031. Without the power of the scrum, the USA Eagles might as well not participate in the showpiece event. Indeed, why even bother? They should just switch to rugby league altogether.

As any self-respecting fan, pundit and observer of rugby union will tell you, the battle for supremacy is more often than not won up-front.

It is a fundamental part of rugby, more so at Test level, and not some appendix that needs to be surgically removed because it has become infected. Ignoring such a key facet of the game has and will only lead to ruination and damnation.

There were many who decried MLR’s decision as one that would be the “Death of Rugby” in the States, and I reckon many more would agree.

* Morgan Bolton is the sports editor at Independent Media.