In The Game Of Rugby Union, What Is A Scrum?

In Rugby Union, a scrum takes place when either the ball in knocked forward, a player is caught accidentally offside, when a team awarded a penalty decides to opt for a scrum, when a player is tackled behind his own try line, when an attacking player is held up on the try line or when a kick off goes out on the full. The scrum consists of the eight forwards from each team linking arms together in formation and meeting with the front row of three in the opposing team's formation. The front row of each team connect their heads in between their opponents. The opposing team to that which has committed the offence is awarded the scrum.  This means that the scrum-half puts the ball in the middle of the scrum, near to his own player's foot. It is usually the case that the team awarded with the scrum regains the ball by hacking the ball backwards to the back row of the scrum whilst pushing forwards at the same time. The ball is then picked up either by the scrum half or the Number 8 at the back and play continues.  However, the other team can contest by pushing and using their weight to snatch the ball by hacking it back to its own scrum half or Number 8.