Joe Marler: Scrummaging props an 'endangered species'

England prop Joe Marler believes he is an ‘endangered species’ and says that law changes are taking the physicality away from the game.

The loosehead said recent law changes have made it difficult to win a penalty at scrum time, and that scrummaging props are becoming a rarity.

“They’re trying their hardest to put props who like scrummaging out of a job as they put more of an emphasis on props getting the ball out as quickly as possible,” said Marler.

“I appreciate that, but if you have an advantage there, you need to be allowed to make the most of that.

“I don’t want it to go too rugby league otherwise I’ll have to go and find a turfing job or something. It’s just a general consensus that no one wants a scrum anymore.

“I’m not accusing anyone of trying to take us out of the game but they want a more attractive brand of rugby and the majority of people see that without scrums and I think: ‘You b******s'”.

“The game is evolving so I have to evolve. I’m still trying to work that one out.

“I can’t do what Mako [Vunipola] does. He is naturally a ball-playing loosehead. I’m more of a mal-coordinated, ball-playing loosehead.”

27-year-old Marler is in line to start for England against the Barbarians on Sunday night, with the match acting as a precursor to his side’s upcoming tour of South Africa.

‘The Baa-Baas probably won’t want to scrum, to be honest,’ he said. ‘They’ll be looking for every sort of out they can to get a free-kick or a pen so they put a special play on, I’m sure. We’ll have to have our wits about us.’

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