Talk to any coach in the country, and they are always looking to get an edge at the scrum. They either want to get the nudge on early, or move the right side up, or the left side up. They may have lost a player to the sin-bin, and want to waste time.

When I was playing in the league, my team had a plan in place for when we lost players to the sin-bin. The first scrum they pushed early, the result a reset. The second they went to ground, reset. The third they scrummaged properly. The idea was that we could waste about two minutes of sin-bin time doing this.

All very valuable in the game context, all very smart, and all very much done by the majority of the professional sides, and a lot of the ones lower down the leagues as well.

Before the match between Cardiff and Northampton, Blues coach Dai Young complained about the Saints’ skulduggery and their boring in on the hooker.

Talk to any of the front-row forwards I have, and they say they would be surprised if a team didn’t try to bore in and force the hooker up and out of the scrum. At worst allowing you to dominate the scrum, at best, you can win a penalty because it looks like the opposition are standing up early.

In the world of the scrum, it’s a double win because not only do you get the points, but you also get one over on the opposition and referee. Which sadly, seems to be happening more often than not nowadays.

One of the biggest issues is the arbitrary refereeing of the scrum area. After watching a weekend of matches, for every 10 penalties or free kicks awarded for infringements at the scrum, I estimate that six or seven could have just as easily gone the other way.

I asked an expert. It’s a lottery and it’s one that is worth having a punt at because it can lead to points or a sending to the sin-bin.

I don’t want to put more pressure on the referees than necessary, but are we (and I use the term collectively as I believe we all have a role to play in this game we love) doing enough to educate them on the intricacies of the front row and the dark arts of the scrum? Are we using the retired masters of their universe, players such as Sean Fitzpatrick, Jason Leonard and Brian Moore, to shed light on what is going on?

Don’t get confused by the fact that there are plenty of former front-row forward coaches out there. Their job is to keep the myth going that it is impossible to understand because it allows them to steal the inches they need. Like career criminals they understand that they may need to do some time in chokey. But they also appreciate that the rewards are enough to make it worth their while.

The Rugby Football Union should turn to the retired experts for their views on what needs to be done. I would love to see a scrum task force put together.

Give them a cool name and send them off round the country like a pack of modern day Edward Woodwards and let them equalise the scrum problem. They wouldn’t be the prettiest bunch, more beer-barrel chested than six packed but, by God, they would get the job done.

Referees would no longer need to award free kicks on a rotation basis and forwards would know their number was up. Because something needs to be done.

When the scrum works properly it is the foundation to the game. It underpins the culture in France and Argentina. It warms the cockles of an Englishman’s heart when it lets us bully the fleet-footed Aussies.

And it gives the game a physical focal point that lets both sets of forwards fight it out in one of the purest forms of gladiatorial confrontation that still exists in today’s sanitised sporting world. Simply put, we can’t do without it.

So please, in 2011, help me eradicate the blight of collapsing scrums. Send me your ideas, petition the RFU, let’s all do something fast.

Otherwise, with draconian options, we could end up with what those cowardly three-quarters have been calling for all along — a game where scrums have no purpose and where the fine art of pushing has died a sad, and untimely death.

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