Prominent writer Stephen Jones has joined calls to reduce the number of replacements amidst the Springboks’ continued use of the ‘Bomb Squad’.
Over the past couple of years, South Africa have come in for some criticism for their decision to load their bench with forwards.
They have often relied on the 6-2 split, which played a key part in their 2019 Rugby World Cup success, and then four years later came up with the 7-1.
The Boks first trialled it against the All Blacks in a World Cup warm-up before using it in the final of the global tournament against the same side.
Tactic returns
Rassie Erasmus then put that tactic on the back burner. That was until Sunday’s Autumn Nations Series encounter with Scotland where scrum-half Grant Williams was the only back among the replacements.
Jones called South Africa’s head coach “arrogant” for his squad selection after he brought on six of the seven forwards at the same time and urged World Rugby to step in.
“No doubt the actions of Erasmus were arrogant. He has enough resources to afford arrogance. The Boks are an unlovely bunch to outsiders, Erasmus himself having been given bans for criticising referees,” he wrote in his column for The Times.
“What can be done for the sport to bomb out bomb squads wherever they gather? It is a truism and yet also the inherent weakness of the modern-day game that huge guys almost always prevail over the normal-sized ones.
“Everyone knows that the sheer mass of rugby players at the moment is making the sport more dangerous to play, and as we wait for the results of various high-level medical investigations, it could also be, at its elite end, causing potentially horrible illnesses.
“Surely the answers should be easy. Rugby must crop fiercely the number of replacements allowed on the pitch. It still seems crazy that the number of permitted replacements has now gone up by such a degree that most teams end the game with less than half of their starters still on the field.
“It was never meant to be like that, because in rugby you were meant to get tired, spaces were meant to open up and if your opponent got the better of you in the power game, then why did you deserve to bring on fresh men? Eight replacements per match is far too many.”
Williams and Wood criticism
Matt Williams and Keith Wood have been the most outspoken on the Springboks’ tactic, particularly before and during last year’s World Cup, and Jones has sought to reignite the debate over the number of replacements in rugby.
He added: “There is still an opportunity for sanity. They must change. Even professional teams should only be allowed four forward replacements, and one back.
“This would still allow safety up front (only seasoned props should prop) and would allow rugby to redevelop that wonderful type of player, the utility back, who could play in several positions. Austin Healey?
“No one needs to replace the whole pack, however arrogant they would like to be. No one really needs three spare backs. Players would have to train to go the whole way, as they always did. The extra space would be life-giving, tempo-changing.
“Rugby is a tough old game. The more replacements it allows, the more it lurches towards brutality, and loses itself. Defuse the bomb squad.”
