Meaning:We like the dictionary definition of 'scrum' – "Originally, a confused struggle in rugby in which the players on either side endeavour to force their opponents and the ball towards the opposite goal; now, an ordered formation in which the two sets of forwards pack themselves together with their heads down and endeavour by pushing to work their opponents off the ball and break away with it or heel it out." So, from a "confused struggle" to an "ordered formation"? Only, perhaps, in some coaches' dreams.

Origin:Scrimish, skirmish, scrimmage, scrummage, scrum – that's the gist of the journey the word has taken over the years, although we were tickled by a claim on one website that scrum probably comes from 'scrumptious'.

The Oxford English Dictionary cites ‘scrimish’, a 15th century Middle English word meaning “confused struggle or fight”, as the starting point in the journey to ‘scrum’; that, in time, transformed into ‘skirmish’, from which ‘scrimmage’ was derived – ‘scrimmage’, of course, is an American football term. One more modification to the word and the rugby term was born.