Cut bench in half to make a game of it

THE bench is damaging rugby union, and this Six Nations should be a watershed moment in curbing its overblown influence.

- NICK CAIN

The availability of eight tactical replacements per team is undermining the concept of players being fit enough to play for 80 minutes, especially in the supposedly elite pro ranks. It has led to the introduction of too many supersized forwards who, at between 20 and 23 stone (128146kg), can barely trundle between stoppages, and only have the puff to play for 20 minutes.

If we are talking safety, there is obvious danger inherent in a combative, collision-heavy sport like rugby union of bringing on raring-to-go behemoths, with no lactic acid build-up or element of fatigue, against tiring opponents who have been pushing the limits to outplay their starting 15 counterparts.

For forwards in particular, it is the equivalent of heavyweight boxing champion Oleksandr Usyk having to face a powerful, fighting-fit replacement in rounds 10, 11, and 12 of a title fight. In tennis, how ludicrous would it be if Novak Djokovic had to contend with his opponent’s fresh-asdaisy sub taking over in fifth set of a Wimbledon final?

The result in rugby union is that both sides are now trying to neutralise each other, usually by introducing 16 new players in the last half-hour of the match.

Rassie Erasmus and his South African bomb squad strategy has induced such a lemming-like reaction among rival coaches that, even though they lack his bench depth of talent, eight replacements are close to supplanting the starting 15 in terms of importance.