At the pre-season course for the top eleven referees in South Africa most work was done on the scrums, including an interesting initiative by SANZAR.

The problem of collapsed scrums is the subject of worldwide attention. The IRB has a stat that says that 12% of an 80-minute match is spent resetting scrums. 12% of 80 is nearly 10 minutes.

Apart from the time and the annoyance, there is also the safety aspect as the collision at scrum time has the potential for serious, even catastrophic injury.

Some teams are worse than others. in the 53 scrums involving Wasps in the Guinness Premiership, there were 37 collapses. There were also 13 penalties in these scrums, a penalty try and a yellow card for a loosehead.

SANZAR has now resolved - and the coaches have bought in - that if a player repeatedly infringes in the scrums, it will be made known.

The team will receive a letter telling them who the player is who is perceived to be a problem. This letter will go to the teams coach, the Super 14 referees and the media. The problem will be made as transparent as possible.