Originally there was no distinction between an awarded or scrum and a loose scrum (today known as a ruck). The side awarded the scrum had one player put the ball on the ground and let go of it; there was no requirement of a tunnel. The onside line was dictated by the ball; so players were required to remain behind it.

The 2021 season has been played without scrums to date, and the Laws Committee believes that it is too late in the season to alter competition rules and too near to the various competition play-off series to increase the risk of fixture cancellations.

Rugby is made with 15 players per team: eight players in the tight scrum and seven players scattered all over the field called backs. When wearing jerseys, the numbers on the player’s backs will determine where they are located on the field.

In rugby league a scrum is a way of re-starting play after: Not everyone can join a scrum. Only six players from each team can take part. They are almost always the six forwards in the side. The scrum is formed at the place where the infringement occurred.

Depending on whether it is in rugby union or rugby league, the scrum is used either after an accidental infringement or when the ball has gone out of play. Scrums occur more often, and are now of greater importance, in union than in league.

The scrum-half can roll the ball in from either the left-hand side or the right-hand side of the scrum. The scrum-half must then not handle the ball until it has come out of the scrum.

Rugby league. A rugby league scrum. A rugby league scrum is used to bring the ball back into play in situations where the ball has gone out of play over the touchline or a player has made a mistake, a knock-on or forward pass, except when that mistake has occurred on the last tackle of a set of six tackles.

In rugby union a scrum is a means of restarting play after a minor infringement. It involves up to eight players from each team, known as the pack or forward pack, binding together in three rows and interlocking with the free opposing teams forwards.

Playing rugby taxes all of the muscles, but the major muscles used in play include: The muscles of the upper legs and hips; the quadriceps, hamstrings, and the gluteals and the calf muscles; the gastrocnemius and soleus. The muscles of the neck and the trapezius. The core muscles; the rectus abdominus, obliques, and the spinal erectors. The muscles of the shoulder girdle; the deltoids, latissimus dorsi, and the pectorals.

One team caused the scrum. The other team gets the advantage of restarting the game by putting the ball in to the space between the opposing sets of forwards. The scrumhalf is always the player who puts the ball into the scrum, always at the lefthand side of the team putting in the ball.