Attacking from scrums is arguably the best possible platform to launch an attack from. There are 8 defenders bound into the scrum and that leaves only 7 defenders to cover the remaining space all over the field. In the scrum, unlike the line-out, all the players are bound in and unable to leave the scrum until the set-piece is over.

A couple of years ago the offside line at the scrum was changed to 5m behind the hindmost foot of the scrum. This law was adopted to give the attacking team more space in which to attack the gain line. It was felt that the previous offside line, which was on the hindmost foot of the scrum, didn’t allow the attacking team that latitude.

It was hoped that with the extra space attacking teams would attempt to move the ball wide from scrums more frequently. Unfortunately, this has not been the case for a number of reasons. Firstly, scrums are prone to wheeling and in a lot of cases the #8 is forced to pick up the ball to clear it from the scrum. Immediately this means the scrum is over and the defence usually close down the attacking space before the attack can exploit it.

Even when the attacking team manufacture a square scrum the #8 often picks up from the base and runs with the ball in an attempt to engage and disrupt the mid-field defence. This ploy again ensures that the initial attack from the scrum is close to the set-piece.

Finally, despite teams manufacturing a square scrum and the scrum-half passing immediately to the fly-half, teams more often than not decide to attack the channel between the open-side flanker and the fly-half. This is almost a guaranteed gain-line and with very little risk of losing the ball.

So all in all the new off-side line at the scrum has failed to produce the abundance of attacking plays that it was designed to create.

But when teams do decide to attack outside the fly-half and show some ingenuity, they are often rewarded with a good gain-line and on some occasions a major line break that leads to a score.

Of course the attacking ploy that is used must take cognisance of the defensive formation and strategy. As with any attack it should endeavour to create and or conserve the space on the gain-line that the defence allows and can be exploited with good scrum possession.

The location of the scrum with regard to field position also has a bearing on the attacking strategy.

If the scrum is on the left-hand-side of the field the mid-field defence is made up of 4 players, fly-half, 2 centres and the open-side wing. This is a prime attacking position where the open-side flanker, who is bound to the scrum, is the only support to the midfield that are often defending over 50m of space.

If the scrum is on the right-hand-side of the field the mid-field defence is effectively made up of 5 players, fly-half, 2 centres, open side wing, plus the scrum half. Because the scrum-half is not bound to the scrum they are much more readily available to support the mid-field defence. This makes attacking a defence on the right-hand-side of the field more difficult to break down.

If the scrum is located in the middle of the field then there are immediately attacking options on both sides of the scrum.

From a square scrum the attacking team can use the #8, scrum-half and right wing to attack the right-hand-side of the field. Teams usually put either the fly-half or a centre on that side of the field to counteract that specific attack. But in doing so it leaves them vulnerable on the left-hand-side of the scrum as they will only have the scrum-half, 2 mid-field defenders and the wing to defend against the attacking fly-half, 2 centres, full-back and left wing.

That is 5 attackers against 4 defenders. Remember the defending full-back will be located in the backfield and not part of the gain-line defence.

On mid-field scrums the direction the attack launches is often determined by whether the scrum wheels or not. If the scrum doesn’t wheel it is a very simple game of numbers. But if the scrum wheels the attack must almost certainly attack in the direction of the wheel. Attacking against the wheel is rarely successful as the defending back-row can usually assist the gain-line defence on the side they are wheeled towards.

For this reason teams often use the wheel as a tactic to force teams to attack with the wheel and strategize to defend that particular attack. They also know that of the attack opts to attack against the wheel their back-row is well positioned from the wheel to deal with that eventuality.

To make scrum attack even more difficult teams often employ their scrum-half to defend just behind the scrum rather than alongside the attacking scrum-half. The trade-off here is the defending scrum-half is not in position to put any pressure on their opposite number. But they are positioned to defend the gain-line on both sides of the scrum from standing just behind the scrum.

This creates a bigger problem for the attacking team, as whatever side of the scrum they attack the defending scrum-half will be able to assist the mid-field defence. For this reason it is very difficult for the attacking team to decide which direction to attack right up until the last moment before or even after the ball is delivered from the scrum.

In this situation the attack must execute what is called “making a read” which essentially means they make their attacking decision at the last moment based on the delivery of the ball and the defensive formation as it unfolds. This requires a high degree of skilled decision making by the attacking mid-field.

But it also requires a certain degree of decision making by the defensive scrum-half which has to be closely coordinated with the defensive back-row players.

A good attacking tactic, when the defensive scrum-half aligns behind the scrum, is to set up the attacking ploy as late as possible or just as the ball emerges from the scrum. This tactic forces the defending scrum-half and back-row to make defensive decisions at the very last moment and that can lead to defensive errors, especially if the scrum wheels in a particular direction.

The scrum wheeling in this situation usually means the defensive roles of the back row can vary from situation to situation and that can create defensive lapses. That in turn will test the decision making of the defence as to whether or not they can exploit any lapses in the defence.

Despite all the conundrums and possibilities associated with attacking from the scrum it is still the best attacking platform available in the game. It is a pity that teams do not attack more often using their mid-field by exploiting that space further from the scrum.

Eddie