No scrum, no chance...

Love it or hate it, it is a defining feature of the game. Hardly surprising to hear Martin Corry, the old Tiger, defending it as an institution on Radio 4 this morning. The boys love it down the Welford Rd, and their whole game plan revolves around the pressure they exert in the darkened recesses of the scrum. Messrs Cole, Castro et al are a force to be reckoned with. The Cardiff Blues may be looking strong in their Heineken Pool, but their lack of real scrummaging bite has cost them in the past, and will do again. Wales without Adam Jones struggle to impose themselves in the tight. To be a force at the top level, you have to be able to depend on your own scrum ball.
But how long can a paying public be expected to put up with numerous collapses, the tiresome macho posturing and occasional outbreak of handbags? The backs stand around and blow on freezing fingers as minutes tick away, and the bewildered ref goes through the litany (crouch-touch etc etc yada yada...). Quite simply, all this puts a premium on "the hit", and the prop who has lost it will probably go down.
My betting is that this farago will not be in place for the next WC - the question is, do we go back to the old days, where men were men and sheep were worried, or will we lose the scrum to a Rugby League type farce, where it is relegated to the role of a rather messy means to simply restart a game ?