IT'S good to see scrums will be back in rugby league in 2022.

They have been missed, because they can add great value to the sport.

Although they serve a different purpose in the modern game compared to times gone by, the alienation of scrums in 2020 and 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic meant an exciting part of the game was taken away from us.

With six from each side packing down, the seven backs – supposedly backs – have the opportunity to produce something magical with a bit more space to exploit.

A move that leads to a speedster exploding through a gap or benefitting from an overlap to dive in at the corner is a special part of the game that gets supporters out of their seats.

Particularly thrilling, but often overlooked, is a long kick and chase from a scrum, when a team looks to make the most of a player with blistering pace.

Lee Briers and Kevin Penny used to do this well for Warrington Wolves, and it could be a trick up the sleeve for Gareth Widdop or George Williams with Matty Ashton next season.

And one of the best -out-of-your-seat riproaring tries I can recall seeing came from a scrum, a 90-metre effort by The Wire winger Richard Henare against St Helens in 1996 after Paul Sculthorpe picked the ball up at the base and after running a couple of metres towards the touchline he flicked the ball inside for the New Zealand speedster to blast through a gaping hole and then hold off the chasers.

Watch Henare's try at the 1min 48secs mark in this video:

In recent times, prior to Covid-19, not enough teams made the most of attacking opportunities from scrums.

Instead, coaches have tended to want their players to consolidate the field position, simply drive the ball in from the first receiver and provide a steady platform for the full set of six tackles and build pressure.

Often we've seen a forward take up the stand-off position to be the ball carrier in this instance, and the number six pack down in the back row instead.

Sometimes, in the modern game, we see centres in the scrum too in the name of player efficiency and defensive structure – perhaps so that the right-side second row doesn't have to travel over to the left for a scrum and dash back again afterwards.

But there has to be a balance. There is a time and a place for that sort of methodology.

Coaches and players also have a duty to entertain. Fans pay their money to be entertained, not bored to death.

The only other purpose of a scrum in the modern game is to give the players a breather, or for a team to use it as a way of slowing the game down with kicks for touch. Game management is a skill, and this part of it shouldn't be taken away.

Warrington Guardian: One of the all-time great Wire scrum front rows. From left, Bob Jackson, Kevin Tamati and Les BoydOne of the all-time great Wire scrum front rows. From left, Bob Jackson, Kevin Tamati and Les Boyd

Things used to be very different, of course.

Scrums are not contested now. The team putting the ball in the scrum gets the ball back, mainly because the feed doesn't go down the middle and in all honesty goes closer to the second row. Winning the ball 'against the head' in the modern game has been known to be penalised, as scrum pushes have been too.

Turning the clock back to the days when hookers really were hookers, younger supporters would probably be shocked by some of the scrummaging antics and the number of times teams would pack down in matches.

Checking back at club records, 25 scrums in a game was not uncommon in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The further you look back, the more there were in a match. In the summer of '71 there were 45 scrums in a clash between The Wire and Widnes at Naughton Park. Go back to the 1940s and 50s and those figures reached the 60s.

Having a player who could win you possession at a scrum by hook or by crook was worth his weight in gold in those days. Getting a 'foot up' early, having a 'loose arm' to aid lower positioning or to play for the ball were just a couple of the tricks number nines would try to get away with, but could end up penalised by the referee.

Efforts would be made to try and distract the opposition hooker, putting hands across his eyes so he could not see or worse – pushing mud into his eyes, throwing a sly punch or banging heads on the way to packing down.

The other front rowers, the props, were not allowed to hook the ball but would try to fool the referee, aided by scrum halves trying to block the ref's view after putting the ball into the scrum.

Those cheeky number sevens were supposed to put the ball down the middle, but often didn't and sometimes got away with it but regularly were penalised for 'feeding'.

If a team looked set to lose possession at a scrum they sometimes collapsed the scrum so that the ball got stuck and the process would have to start again. This was another way in which a team could be pulled up by the whistleblower too.

Scrummaging was a craft in itself, a place not for the feint hearted and where tough men earned their reputations on pitches that were caked in mud – with rugby league in those days played over the winter months.

The Wire had some awesome true number nines, from Championship winners like Dave Cotton and Tom McKinney in the 1940s and 50s to Kevin Ashcroft and John Dalgreen in the 1970s.

Warrington Guardian: Kevin AshcroftKevin Ashcroft

But the game has certainly moved on for the better. Nobody wants to see 20 scrums in a match these days, never mind 60 or more with constant stoppages.

But when the opportunities do come about with scrums in 2022, let's see some ambitious thinking, let's be entertained by some sparkling moves and breathtaking tries. Let's celebrate the return of the scrums in style.