Gregor Townsend, Scotland’s head coach, has raised concerns about benches comprising seven forwards at official World Rugby meetings.
It is understood that Townsend expressed his uneasiness with the 7-1 trend at the governing body’s Shape of the Game forums in south-west London last week with France once again opting to employ the tactic in this Saturday’s Six Nations match against Ireland.
Other nations are understood to have been sympathetic towards Townsend’s position with questions raised around whether the practice has truly been in the spirit of the game. Opponents argue that replacements were originally intended to act as injury cover rather than as a mechanism to deploy an entirely fresh forward pack.
Townsend, whose Scotland side have lost two of their three Six Nations matches so far and visit France on the final weekend, holds an official position on World Rugby’s Men’s High-Performance Rugby Committee alongside the likes of Wayne Barnes, Felipe Contepomi, Ugo Monye and the governing body’s chief executive, Alan Gilpin, although it is understood that the issue was raised by the Scot in the wider conferences – attended by all member unions – and not in the elite forums.
The issue for opponents of the tactic is that World Rugby has no plans as things stand to examine the usage. The global governing body might only intervene if or when a member union formally brings the topic forward for debate and scrutiny. It is also understood that the matter was not listed for further exploration by World Rugby’s various performance panels at The Lensbury last week, with potential solutions thin on the ground.
For the second time in their history, France have followed the South African lead of a 7-1 bench split for this weekend’s match in Dublin, which could ultimately decide the Six Nations title. Fabien Galthié, head coach of Les Bleus, selected the same replacement division for their hammering of Italy in round three, but that was the first time that a so-called tier-one nation had opted to do so other than South Africa.
Erasmus: ‘We are not doing things to upset people’
Rassie Erasmus, South Africa’s two-time World Cup-winning chief, was asked about the practice on Wednesday. It was his Springboks, with Jacques Nienaber as head coach, who invented the concept ahead of the 2023 World Cup – in a warm-up match at Twickenham where they demolished New Zealand 35-7 – and Erasmus believes that the science shows no safety issues. Erasmus’s South Africa also employed the tactic in their 2023 World Cup final victory against the All Blacks.
“The thing is we are not doing things to upset people,” Erasmus said. “We want to win. We want to win for our country. We are of the mindset that, with the referees, we want to have respect both ways. That’s why we appointed [ex-international referee] Jaco Peyper. Being criticised for 7-1 or 6-2, I’m not being arrogant, but for me it is about what other people think about that. It is about what is best for South Africa within the laws so that we can win matches. For me, it makes sense for the French to pick a 7-1, because they have a back-line player there that can cover every single position. They’ve got a loose forward who played on the wing against us for France when they had an injury.
“If the criticism was valid and it made sense that it is dangerous… I can show you papers from Ross Tucker, who works for World Rugby, that it has never been shown that any fresh player who comes onto the field makes the game more dangerous. There’s a whole paper on that: the more fresh players that are on the pitch, forwards or backs, the safer it is.
“If any of that criticism is valid, and I’m thinking somebody is in danger here, then I would listen. I don’t want people to be out there saying I’m being clever. It’s for us to win. I’m pretty sure that’s why the French did it. I’m pretty sure that’s why teams go 6-2. They realise that you very seldom use your third back-line player. You always keep him on the bench, for if there is another injury. The criticism that I would only take to heart if it were real and if there were some stats and facts behind it [is regarding safety concerns].”
World Rugby was contacted by Telegraph Sport for comment.
