No, and furthermore they don't even try. When you have a hooker who can't hook (like Tom Youngs) the 9 pretty much feeds straight into the second row these days. In fact, he does it even if he has a hooker who can hook. For whatever reason, it's simply something that refs have ceased to police anymore. I suspect that this will soon change (unlike football, rugby rules tend to evolve season-by-season) but it's a great pity now because the art of hooking has been somewhat lost and hookers who are good in the loose (again, like Tom Youngs) gain reputations despite the fact that they lack the core skill of their position. The focus on the front three is really now on disrupting the other side rather than overtly winning the ball and on the rare occasions a scrum is won against the head, it's usually the result of overpowering the side with the ball rather than hooking technique. The focus on disruption is really why the Tight Head has become probably the second most important player in rugby after the out half. If he doesn't do his job, the ball never gets back to 10.

Sydenham by birth. Selhurst by the Grace of God.

When was the last time a ball was put in straight? LOL

I agree about the referee guessing though.

Interesting article from an ex-ref how he viewed the scrums between Wales and Fiji. Things have really changed since I played. [Link]

'Lies to the masses as are like fly's to mollasses...they want more and more and more'

That's the point that's the rules.

Put in straight and suddenly some of the issues around scrummaging disappear.

If we follow the Antipodeans soon we will allow the forward pass.

"Everything is air-droppable at least once."

"When the going gets tough, the tough call for close air support."

England are deffinately out then. This is pathetic

World champions at singing anthems, world chumpions at game discipline

The Voice of Reason In An Otherwise Mediocre World