World Rugby chairman Sir Bill Beaumont has opened on how he is concerned the game is becoming over-reliant on substitutes in a phenomenon catalysed by the Springboks’ infamous Bomb Squad.
The forwards contingent on the South African bench, affectionately known as the Bomb Squad, has been an integral part of the success of the side since Rassie Erasmus was brought into the head coach role in 2018.
How the phenomenon was 𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐧
The tactician quickly saw an advantage in the quality of forwards the Springboks had and changed the bench configuration to allow six forwards and two backs.
The decision was a masterstroke, despite the inevitable backlash it got, as it powered the side to a World Cup title.
From then on the 6-2 split became more and more popular at all levels with many teams adopting the same strategy.
Erasmus and former Springboks boss Jacques Nienaber took it to a different level in 2023 by having a 7-1 split which was employed in the World Cup final last year where South Africa claimed the title.
The Erasmus era with South Africa has forced the rugby world to look at it as a 23-a-side game as opposed to just a 15-a-side game and Beaumont, who is set to step down from his role in November, claims this is a cause for concern but refused to criticise the Bomb Squad in the process.
“My view is that we allow too many substitutes,” he told The Times.
“I don’t know if I’m looking through rose-coloured spectacles but in years gone by the game always opened up in the last 20 minutes, and games were often won in the last 20 minutes.
Not criticising the Bomb Squad
“The Bomb Squad are very effective at what they do, and very successful — they have won two World Cups. I will not criticise that at all, because it suits their game, but maybe they could run for a bit longer and a bit further.”
Beaumont is not the only person concerned about how benches are used with former Scotland boss Matt Williams expressing several times that he believes the bench should only be used in the event of injury as it used to be.
