Simple fact is that unless they get penalised... why would they stop?
They’ve perfected a tackling technique, utilising several players, that allows them to trap the ball runner, hold him immobilised until the “held” call, and then topple the player to the ground. Optimally, it takes two players to hold and one to topple him late, all of which buys seconds of time to get the defensive line set and ready.
One player then retreats directly behind the ruck whilst the other two climb off as slowly as possible and move into the marker position.
And it’s all legal. To be honest, whilst it shits me to tears, I can’t help but have a twinge of admiration for how well they manipulate the rules and officials to their advantage and how well they use this play to “normalise” the ruck speed from the first set off the game..
Referees seem loath to penalise them in the ruck, so once they’ve got away with it early in the game they tend to allow that “ruck tempo” to continue the rest of the game and this is to their advantage in a massive fashion...
The other grubby tactics?? f**ken kick the merkins out, or let punches be thrown. The shit they get away with now would have seen them break the cap in dentistry alone many years ago ffs. The players would have sorted it out “unofficially”
