Scrummaging has been front and centre this week after the issues coming out of the Crusaders-Force game in Christchurch last weekend.
There was no love lost between the two front rows. I suppose when both sides want to put their mark on the game it becomes difficult for a referee to be able to contain that.
The Force didn't surprise me in scrummaging so well. They had a couple of good props there and it was a positive for them. The thing is that when you know you are up against a front-row of Owen Franks, Codie Taylor, Wyatt Crockett or Joe Moody, you lift yourself. They're an All Blacks front row and they're marked men. Their opponents know who they are and who they're marking. Wherever they go they are marked men.
If the Crusaders get their scrum working it is a real asset for them. It's how they've always laid their foundation with the set-piece. That's part of the Crusaders' success and if you can just chip away in areas like that it makes for a niggly game.
The Crusaders had to work for it, but that's what you're going to get. I suppose as a spectacle it is that old chestnut again about the scrums. It is difficult to watch but it is a part of the game. Again, if we took out a lot of the referee's whistle and just had a pile-up: what's the worst thing that could happen? You've got 16 forwards lying on the ground and seven backs running with a lot of space.
It's not the prettiest thing to watch but we're forgetting why the scrum is there. It is to remove the forwards out of the game to let the backs have a bit of space. We're caught up too much with trying to make things look right but we should just leave them as they are.
New Zealanders need to give the Australian sides some credit. During Super Rugby, the Australian teams have always scrummed well. They actually haven't had a bad scrum. Australian rugby has gone through a period where they have had a weak scrum at international level in fits and starts.
They are relatively strong now but over the last two decades that has always been the weak link in Australian rugby. They've worked on that. Everyone, in this day and age, does their work and there have been massive improvements right across the board from every team and the scrum now looks, compared to what it looked like 20 years ago, a well organised set-up.
That's not to say it is not going to end up in a mess when the pressure goes on, and there is always pressure, which means it can end up looking like a dog's breakfast with a big pile-up.
I've seen Australian props do really well at that level and when the Waratahs won the Super Rugby title they had the best scrum in the competition. There are two key elements in the game of rugby. One is having a world-class No.10 and the other is having a good forward pack laying a foundation at scrum time.
The average punter probably doesn't realise the energy sapped out of you from a scrum, and then you have to get out and run around the field. When you can sap the energy out of an opposing forward pack their legs turn to jelly. And all of sudden, through your dominance, you can assert yourself around the field a lot more.
Then there's the psychological side of it as well. The team that is getting beaten up starts questioning whether it can cope and they start cowering away from every scrum they face. Psychologically you get it over them but it is, and always has been, an important part of the game of rugby.
I felt the Blues' win over the Bulls was the best game I had seen them play in a long time. I heard the comment and I have to reiterate that the leadership shown, from Jerome Kaino especially, he carried a truckload of ball but he didn't try to look for the offload, he secured it and rebuilt the attack. That was what they needed. And when the opportunity was on they pounced and took it and that was a real positive.
When Jimmy Tupou was sin-binned midway through the second half, they didn't miss a beat and they scored a couple of tries while he was gone. It was a good finish.
It was interesting to see some rugby without the local derbies in New Zealand. There's no doubt that overseas teams are better for their exposure to New Zealand teams while at the same time this competition is nothing without the Kiwi sides.
I think New Zealand needs to push its case to say 'we're leading the comp and we should have more say in how everything should look'.
It's probably never going to happen but if we are going to have a global season we actually need to work towards something that reflects that.
We have the Mitre 10 Cup and then we could have an Oceania Conference in Super Rugby. The Western Force could stay in the South African Conference and then at the end of the competition the top four from the Conferences could then come in and play off with the top four from the Heineken Cup. That would really make it something that was world-class which the whole rugby world was looking at rather than each going our own way in our respective hemispheres.
That structure could then lead into the international season. It would be a mouth-watering thought. To reach the point where you could crown a world champion club or franchise would be huge.
With SANZAAR in the process of thinking about what is good for the game; if they got together with the northern hemisphere and put it on the table it could be fantastic. After all, how many sports truly have a world champion? And how great would that be for the game?
Again, it is that blank canvas and if we are going to make changes why not look at the longer term future rather than putting your finger in a hole to stop a leak.