Solving Invisible Problems
By Jack Foster
Feb 14, 2025 - 10:00am
It is generally a good thing for an organization to adapt to meet the expectations and desires of its clientele. A business should always be looking to make changes that attract more attention and expand their reach in a community. This attitude has certainly taken hold in American sports, with the National Football League and Major League Baseball making numerous rule changes intending to create a more enjoyable game to watch. With the 2025 season on the horizon, Major League Rugby are following in their footsteps by introducing a new set of trial laws with the apparent aim of creating a faster, more free-flowing game. However, in doing so, the league stands to diminish the implements of one of rugby's most beloved symbols: the scrum.
In theory, the movement toward a faster game that generates more scoring should draw more interest from fans. The NFL's changes to kickoff rules aim to discourage fans from tuning out for the play, and MLB has implemented a pitch clock to keep fans engaged without dull stretches in between pitches and batters. Scrums and lineouts are pivotal aspects of the game from which a team can launch a blistering attack, or a defense can swing momentum back in their favor. Yet MLR seems intent on removing scrums as a possible attacking platform. Five of the seven laws being trialed in 2025 or continually implemented from 2024 mention scenarios from which a scrum would be removed. Instead of increasing the amount of open play, these laws would only limit teams tactically and reduce an aspect of the game that so many love.
The scrum is also one of the only aspects of rugby that someone unfamiliar with the sport will instantly recognize. The word itself has seen its usage expand to refer to larger-scale fistfights, but people outside the rugby fandom will still likely know a scrum when they see one. That makes the decision to reduce them all the more baffling for a league that is searching for the attention of an American fanbase so easily distracted by other sports. Fans such as myself who happened across the game in their mid-twenties and fell in love with it are few, and MLR needs to be doing everything it can to connect with a wider audience. That should start with emphasizing one of the sole aspects of rugby that the wider public already appreciates.
Beyond the entertainment aspect for established and prospective fans is affect that it will have on the international game. The USA Eagles are entering a new era of promise after failing to qualify for the 2023 Rugby World Cup. The Eagles have risen to #15 in the World Rugby rankings (up from #20 in 2022), are members of the Pacific Nations Cup, and will host the 2031 Rugby World Cup. To diminish the practice of scrums at the domestic level will only hurt the Eagles' scrum during test matches. At a time when American rugby is on the precipice of unprecedented growth, limiting the practice of one of rugby's staple set pieces only stands to hurt the Eagles. This becomes more pronounced when one looks at the two-time defending World Cup Champions, South Africa. The Springboks have been renowned for years as having the most powerful scrum on the planet and have used it to bowl over their opponents in their victories. While I don't think any American fan expects the Eagles' scrum to have quite the same effect, the South African dominance at the scrum suggests that it is part of the modern method for success on the international stage, and therefore cannot be ignored.
Individual players will also see their roles diminish with the decrease in scrums. Rugby has become a highly specialized game with each position providing unique abilities to their team. The decline in one of the core set pieces in the game will slash the responsibilities of eight positions, greatly limiting their effectiveness in a game. Props, locks and hookers will still have roles in a lineout and can act as a battering rams in open play. Back row players, who already have some of the least defined responsibilities in the game, may get left out in the cold if they do not have the skills to adapt to another position. If rugby moves toward a more positionless it will offer fewer opportunities for players and create a game that is harder to understand, neither of which are good for the growth of the sport.
No MLR games have been played under the new trial laws, so of course it remains to be seen how influential they will truly be. However, plenty of fans can already spot the implications I have mentioned. Following MLR's announcement of the new trial laws on February 10th, hundreds of fans took to social media to denounce the prospective changes. Should that outcry continue, or if any of the effects I have described take place, MLR will find it difficult to keep these laws in place. The scrum is a vital piece of the game we love and should be protected and emphasized if MLR and USA Rugby want to draw more attention to the sport and see American rugby soar to new heights.