Let’s talk about scrimmages, the “complex” standard piece that is under scrutiny as the world of rugby changes.

Here are a few thought-provoking words from the Harlequins’ light-hearted joke, and don’t worry, this isn’t a repeat of Joe Marler’s questionable jokes about opposing relatives.

“The fight is pretty terrible, but I like it,” said Fin Baxter, a 20-year-old who took the seat of the suspended Marler on the front row of Queens in Sunday’s Premier League home game against Sale, and good advice for the future. England awards.

“Scrumming in general is so difficult; There are so many factors here,” said Baxter, who captained the England under-18s and under-20s.

“The mindset is ‘it’s not easy and it’s pretty terrible’ – you have to learn and you just can’t back down.”

So why is he doing this? “Because I’m pretty good at it, I like to think, and when things go right, it’s a damn good feeling.”

The discussion of set pieces and their place in the modern game is timely in light of World Rugby’s New Year’s recommendations to speed up play and reduce stoppages. Among the many recommendations was a call to referees to apply rule 19.4, which requires no more than 30 seconds for a scrum to form after the mark is reached.

This has led experts like BT’s Ben Kay to believe that when scrums and lanes get too out of place, we can see players with uniform builds rather than playing with the traditional calling card like “fits all shapes and sizes”. “.

Baxter started for Queens in a 46-17 loss at Northampton last Sunday, notable for veteran test umpire Luke Pierce, who was regularly verbally assaulting in scrums and other areas. Elsewhere, in an alleyway, referee Craig Maxwell-Keys pulled the Saracens out of their pre-match bout multiple times.

I understands that the RFU premier league refereeing department has assured players and coaches that Pierce’s approach this weekend will be a bit more measured.

“Luke Pierce really picked up the pace and wasted no time,” Baxter says, but he is supportive. “Despite the fact that we also exploded and said: “Luke, please slow down”, it seemed to me that it was a fast-paced and more exciting game.”

A brief overview of how we got here would be helpful. Lineout formation timelines have never been set, while a 30-second scrimmage requirement was included in rugby law after the 2015 World Cup. Rule 20.1d previously stated: “No delay. A team must not intentionally delay the formation of a scrum. Penalty: free kick.

In 2016 it was expanded to include the following: “The team must be prepared for the referee to call ‘crouch’ within 30 seconds of the referee’s signal.” And in 2017, Rule 20 became Rule 19.

Unlike the 5 second “use it” cue for a ruck, the referee cannot mentally count out the 30 seconds in the bout, so the task will most likely be taken over by the fourth referee or another colleague.

Oddly enough, delays are more likely to occur after calls and resets rather than in preparation – although who knows, if the attackers had gathered faster in the Harlequins against Bristol last month, Marler might not have had enough time for his sleds.

England were tested in a scrum by South Africa in November, scrum manager Matt Proudfoot has since departed, but whether a red rose package will help or hinder faster participation is a juicy debate.

As for the World Rugby recommendation on shot times in elite competitions, this applies only to goal kicks, where prior to 2015 60 seconds and 90 seconds were used for penalties and conversions.

Baxter went rogue after playing on the side of the misers at his school, Wellington College, and in his first club games against the likes of Munster and Racing 92. He defends the scrum in all its complexities and idiosyncrasies, as befits such a lesson. . Past or present, with three players making nearly 400 caps: clubmate Marler, Harlequin scrum coach and former Welsh promoter Adam Jones, as well as Queens and English legend Jason. Leonard.

So Baxter likes the analysis of “experts like David Flatman who know Scrum inside and out.”

And he says, “One of my arguments is that I don’t like rugby; I just do not understand. There is no specialty, there are no nuances in it. If we cancel wrestling, it will just become rugby league. And I don’t know what I would do if that happened. You will never see me play number nine.

Baxter has seen movies from decades past where fights were formed by just 16 players walking and running with him. This has been changed for security reasons.

“Yes they [the scrums] looked terrible,” he says. “But not a patch for glitches – looking back, it was just a fight, it was funny.”