Duncan Casey: Thriving in the dark, demi-monde of the scrum

I’ve said many times in recent months that this should be the most competitive World Cup in history. That applies to the battle at scrum time too

THE DARK ARTS: A general view of a scrum during the Summer International match between Wales and South Africa at Principality Stadium in August. Pic: Alex Davidson/Getty Images

We love a World Cup because of the clash of styles, standards and philosophies over the course of eight weeks. For the purists, the scrum is a battleground where this is particularly notable. A tier two nation can offer little around the park, have a lineout that does not function, but still achieve parity or an upper hand against a far superior side by getting the edge on them at scrum time.

We have seen plenty of examples in previous iterations of the tournament, with the likes of Romania, Georgia and Uruguay raising eyebrows by using their scrum to get a bit of a foothold in games they were never going to win. The scrum can be a great equaliser in a tournament like this and given the subjective nature of how it is refereed, all it takes is one or two early nudges the right way to build momentum that can last a full match.