All Blacks: What is wrong with the scrum?

Although Prince William and Kate Middleton's regal announcement inevitably created worldwide interest, the All Blacks are obsessing over another form of engagement.

Finessing their scrummaging has been a priority after rugby Grand Slam test victories over England and Scotland were marred by technical infringements at the set piece, predominately on the opposition's feed.

The All Blacks forward pack has struggled to adjust to the interpretations of northern hemisphere referees - Frenchman Romain Poite and England's Dave Pearson - in successive weekends, prompting All Blacks assistant coach Steve Hansen to seek clarification on the timing of the four-step engagement process and the distance teams should be separated before the hit.

Hansen said he planned to discuss the issues with International Rugby Board referees boss Paddy O'Brien and also have routine discussions with Marius Jonker, the South African who controls Sunday's (NZT) test between the All Blacks and Ireland at the Aviva Stadium.

Hansen emphasised the All Blacks worries were not unique.

"Everyone's suffering the same problem," he said.

"They're trying to rule the scrums and the people getting the benefit of the doubt are the people putting the ball in. It was no different in the Aussie-England game (last weekend)," he said.

"All you want from the ref is consistency, as long as you get that you can live with it."

New Zealand's most-capped prop, North Harbour loosehead Tony Woodcock, echoed Hansen's concerns.

"We're real happy about the scrums on our ball, we're probably getting the best quality we've had all year but when we're having a crack at opposition ball, refs are ruling against what we're doing," he said.

Woodcock's colleague on the tighthead side Owen Franks said policing the gap between packs was also variable.

"Scotland wanted a big gap, but we wanted to close it up," said Franks of last weekend's clash at Murrayfield.

"The ref (Pearson) didn't really do too much about it, but that is just the way it works," he shrugged.

"If you close the hit up and you are technically better, it leaves you in a stronger position to push."

All Blacks scrum guru Mike Cron felt northern hemisphere referees were still getting to grips with the "crouch, touch, pause, engage" routine.

"The refs will work it out, they'll get a nice sort of timing of it," he said.

"Our job as coaches is to support the IRB and get on with it.

"There's a wee bit of frustration up here, we've probably been in a position where we've operated under this slower calling system between pause and engage for a season.

"We're used to it, it's just come in up here and remember when it first came in at home it was a bit of a shambles."

Meanwhile, Ireland head coach Declan Kidney was also perplexed at New Zealander Keith Brown's officiating at the scrum time during their 20-10 win over Samoa last weekend.

Brown regularly penalised the under-pressure Irish pack and it only settled down once Cian Healy and Rory Best came off the bench and Tom Court switched to tighthead in place of John Hayes.

"I think from the time there was 'crouch' to the time there was 'engage' there was six seconds, on average. That's what they (the IRB) are trying to do. Sometimes the less rules you have the better. It's something we must work on," Kidney said.

Jonker has refereed the All Blacks three times, starting with the Bledisloe Cup loss to the Wallabies in Melbourne three years ago.

He is also familiar to the All Blacks through the Super 14.

"I enjoy the way he refs so hopefully he'll have an open mind and let us have a crack," Woodcock said.

- NZPA