By NORMAN TASKER

As the Gordon scrum demolished Warringah a month or so back, the penalties flowed as they always do against the weaker scrum. It happens in every game. Such was the frustration of a Warringah front-rower after the umpteenth penalty against him he button-holed the referee with a question.

“Are we doing anything illegal?” he inquired. “Or are they just too good for us.” The referee seemed flummoxed. It is a question that could be asked, probably should be asked, scrum after scrum, game after game.

Scrums in the modern game are a mess. They frustrate us all . . . for the interminable time they take to complete, for the flood of ridiculous penalties that flow from them and for the negative process of “milking” penalties that they too easily encourage.