Paws? In rugby??

We had a rugby match today (and I will be posting some photos in the coming days). At the match, I was briefly confused by the referee.

Last year, they changed the specifics of what the ref says when there's a scrum. Not that the change would have much relevance to non-ruggers, but it was changed to, "Crouch. Touch. Pause. Engage."

Then, either early this year or late last year, came a directive (which I think was at the World Cup level but was adopted at all levels of rugby) that the "Touch" and "Pause" parts were to be said as one. I believe this was to avoid issues with varying delays being caused by different refs.

So now it's "Crouch. Touch-Pause. Engage."

I knew about this but had forgotten it until today. So I'm standing near a scrum, camera in hand, when I clearly hear, "Crouch. Touch paws. Engage."

Did he say, "Touch paws"? Thank God I said it to myself and didn't go up to anyone and make a fool of myself (although I've certainly been good enough at that in the past!). It took a few scrums for it to click in my head. Until then, I was one confused boy! I've heard people make comments about the ruggers being animalistic, but "touch paws" was going a bit too far!