The Scottish Rugby Board has approved changes to the scrum laws for the club game in Scotland this forthcoming season.
For the last six years Scottish Rugby has been permitted to conduct experimental law variations by the game’s worldwide governing body, the IRB, on the use of under-19 scrum laws at all levels of the adult club game. Scottish Rugby implemented this, except for first XVs in Scottish Hydro Premier 1, Premier 2 and Premier 3 divisions. Read on for the changes for this season.



The IRB has now written the variation into law giving member Unions the opportunity to implement under-19 scrum law variations at levels considered appropriate within each Union’s domestic tier.
Since the first experiment, the IRB has changed the full scrum law specifically with regard to the process by which packs engage. This summer Scottish Rugby, via the Scottish Rugby Council, decided to consult clubs on their views on which laws should be applied to the scrum in the adult game and this led to the recommendation made to the Board.
So, for season 2009/10, the Board has approved that full scrum laws will be used at the following levels:
• All Scottish Hydro Premier and National first XV matches
• All matches in the National Reserve leagues 1 and 2
• All women’s Premier League first XV matches
Under-19 scrum variations will continue at the following levels:
• All Scottish Hydro Regional League first XV matches
• All regional league reserve team matches
• All women’s national league and national development league matches
• All other rugby
There will be a review of the levels at which the under-19 variations are applied in Scotland at the end of the 2009-2010 season.
Meanwhile, another variation employed in Scotland over the last six years, rolling substitutions – not exceeding 12 in any one game – has now also been written into the laws of the game, whereby Unions can have rolling subs at defined levels of their domestic game.
The Scottish Rugby Board has approved rolling substitutions continuing at all levels of the club game.

This article was posted on 31-Jul-2009, 11:34 by Hugh Barrow.